Securian Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,105 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Securian Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,214 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,105 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $492,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in AES by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $775,354,000 after purchasing an additional 5,960,546 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AES by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $330,125,000 after purchasing an additional 181,975 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AES by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,879,259 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $88,536,000 after buying an additional 185,020 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of AES by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,756,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,220,000 after buying an additional 249,486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,961,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,989,000 after buying an additional 439,493 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Stock Up 6.0 %

AES opened at $13.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The AES Co. has a 52 week low of $9.88 and a 52 week high of $22.21. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.06.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.39%. AES’s payout ratio is 29.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AES. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Susquehanna cut their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AES has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.30.

AES Profile

The AES Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified power generation and utility company in the United States and internationally. The company owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to customers, such as utilities, industrial users, and other intermediaries; owns and/or operates utilities to generate or purchase, distribute, transmit, and sell electricity to end-user customers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental sectors; and generates and sells electricity on the wholesale market.