Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEIS) Short Interest Down 5.6% in March

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEIS) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,680,000 shares, a decline of 5.6% from the March 15th total of 2,840,000 shares. Currently, 7.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 221,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 12.1 days.

Advanced Energy Industries Price Performance

NASDAQ:AEIS opened at $94.85 on Tuesday. Advanced Energy Industries has a 52 week low of $81.86 and a 52 week high of $126.38. The company has a quick ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 5.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $100.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.67.

Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The electronics maker reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.10. Advanced Energy Industries had a return on equity of 14.32% and a net margin of 7.75%. The company had revenue of $405.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $407.66 million. Equities analysts expect that Advanced Energy Industries will post 2.88 EPS for the current year.

Advanced Energy Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Advanced Energy Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.76%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Advanced Energy Industries

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AEIS. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Advanced Energy Industries by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 13,220 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,138,000 after buying an additional 828 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Advanced Energy Industries by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 395,624 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $34,056,000 after buying an additional 7,996 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Advanced Energy Industries by 29.9% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,829 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 421 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Advanced Energy Industries by 24.5% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,841 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $330,000 after buying an additional 755 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Advanced Energy Industries by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 33,944 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,922,000 after buying an additional 2,519 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AEIS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Advanced Energy Industries from $108.00 to $97.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. TheStreet raised Advanced Energy Industries from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Advanced Energy Industries currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $115.14.

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.