Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) Stock Price Down 5.1% After Insider Selling

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEIS) fell 5.1% during mid-day trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $154.13 and last traded at $153.64. 90,525 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 356,629 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.89.

Specifically, EVP John Donaghey sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.73, for a total value of $160,730.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 10,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,611,961.17. The trade was a 9.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AEIS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Advanced Energy Industries from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Advanced Energy Industries from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Advanced Energy Industries from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Advanced Energy Industries and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Advanced Energy Industries from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.90.

Advanced Energy Industries Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $138.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.51, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.52.

Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The electronics maker reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $441.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $421.32 million. Advanced Energy Industries had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 12.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Advanced Energy Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 25th. Advanced Energy Industries’s dividend payout ratio is 18.10%.

Institutional Trading of Advanced Energy Industries

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AEIS. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Advanced Energy Industries during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $71,494,000. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Advanced Energy Industries during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,393,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Advanced Energy Industries during the second quarter valued at approximately $58,766,000. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Advanced Energy Industries during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,687,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Advanced Energy Industries by 15,632.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 193,670 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $18,459,000 after purchasing an additional 192,439 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

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.