Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Sells 19,446 Shares of Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEIS)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lessened its stake in shares of Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEIS) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 647,060 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 19,446 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned approximately 1.72% of Advanced Energy Industries worth $74,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commerce Bank grew its holdings in Advanced Energy Industries by 34.0% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 3,327 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $350,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Advanced Energy Industries in the third quarter worth about $718,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Advanced Energy Industries by 45.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 4,148 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Advanced Energy Industries during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in Advanced Energy Industries by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 43,357 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $4,563,000 after buying an additional 3,736 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AEIS shares. Bank of America raised shares of Advanced Energy Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Advanced Energy Industries from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Advanced Energy Industries from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Advanced Energy Industries from $138.00 to $136.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Advanced Energy Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $110.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $126.56.

Insider Activity

In other Advanced Energy Industries news, Director Lanesha Minnix sold 1,600 shares of Advanced Energy Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.37, for a total value of $206,992.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $451,760.04. The trade was a 31.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Eduardo Bernal Acebedo sold 19,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.61, for a total transaction of $2,155,077.49. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,822 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,212,333.42. This represents a 49.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Advanced Energy Industries Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AEIS opened at $105.12 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $114.72 and a 200 day moving average of $112.34. The company has a quick ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 4.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $89.12 and a twelve month high of $132.16. The firm has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.51, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.43.

Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The electronics maker reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by ($0.03). Advanced Energy Industries had a net margin of 3.66% and a return on equity of 8.90%. As a group, research analysts expect that Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Advanced Energy Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. Advanced Energy Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.97%.

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.