The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Stock Holdings Decreased by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 94,931,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 430,109 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.13% of AES worth $1,221,768,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AES. Stevens Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of AES by 154.7% in the 4th quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 41,734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 25,348 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in AES by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 519,975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,692,000 after purchasing an additional 38,964 shares during the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP boosted its holdings in AES by 526.5% in the fourth quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 91,867 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 77,203 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of AES by 350.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 324,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,181,000 after purchasing an additional 252,744 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of AES by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,784,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,968,000 after buying an additional 246,046 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AES shares. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Susquehanna dropped their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. HSBC started coverage on AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.63.

AES Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:AES opened at $12.45 on Friday. The AES Co. has a 1 year low of $9.88 and a 1 year high of $22.21. The business has a fifty day moving average of $11.34 and a 200-day moving average of $13.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $8.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.64, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94.

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

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.65%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.54%.

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.