18,700 Shares in Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEIS) Purchased by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEIS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 18,700 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $2,037,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System owned 0.05% of Advanced Energy Industries at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in Advanced Energy Industries by 1.7% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 7,109 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $733,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Advanced Energy Industries by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,751 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,727,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Advanced Energy Industries by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,766 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $369,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Advanced Energy Industries by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 18,239 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Partners II LLC lifted its holdings in Advanced Energy Industries by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.67% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AEIS. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Advanced Energy Industries from $108.00 to $97.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Advanced Energy Industries from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $115.14.

Advanced Energy Industries Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AEIS traded down $1.62 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $90.81. 198,089 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 216,063. Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $81.86 and a fifty-two week high of $126.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a current ratio of 5.10. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $99.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.55.

Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The electronics maker reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $405.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $407.66 million. Advanced Energy Industries had a return on equity of 14.32% and a net margin of 7.75%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Advanced Energy Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Advanced Energy Industries's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.76%.

Advanced Energy Industries Profile

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.