Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) Receives Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $145.00 price objective on the electronics maker’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target points to a potential upside of 22.81% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on AEIS. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Advanced Energy Industries from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Advanced Energy Industries from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America upgraded shares of Advanced Energy Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Advanced Energy Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Advanced Energy Industries from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.89.

Advanced Energy Industries Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Advanced Energy Industries stock opened at $118.07 on Wednesday. Advanced Energy Industries has a 52-week low of $89.11 and a 52-week high of $128.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $116.15 and a 200 day moving average of $109.42. The company has a quick ratio of 3.32, a current ratio of 4.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.57, a P/E/G ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 1.46.

Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.07. Advanced Energy Industries had a net margin of 2.91% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The company had revenue of $374.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $372.49 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Advanced Energy Industries will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Advanced Energy Industries news, Director Lanesha Minnix sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.72, for a total value of $111,720.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $568,878.24. The trade was a 16.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Advanced Energy Industries

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Advanced Energy Industries by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 647,682 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $70,442,000 after buying an additional 118,328 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Advanced Energy Industries by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 82,345 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $8,956,000 after buying an additional 5,930 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in Advanced Energy Industries by 13.5% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,681,776 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $182,910,000 after buying an additional 199,578 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its stake in Advanced Energy Industries by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 176,683 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $19,244,000 after buying an additional 6,217 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Advanced Energy Industries by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 483,848 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $50,920,000 after buying an additional 53,566 shares during the period. 99.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Advanced Energy Industries

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc provides precision power conversion, measurement, and control solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's plasma power products offer solutions to enable innovation for semiconductor and thin film plasma processes, such as dry etch and deposition.