Whittier Trust Co. Raises Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 638,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,093 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in AES were worth $11,211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AES. Rise Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 92.4% during the second quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in AES during the first quarter worth about $33,000. Glassman Wealth Services raised its holdings in AES by 186.1% during the fourth quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 1,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,254 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in AES during the fourth quarter worth about $57,000. Finally, Palisade Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in AES in the first quarter valued at about $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of AES traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $17.25. The company had a trading volume of 1,328,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,986,265. The AES Co. has a 52 week low of $11.43 and a 52 week high of $22.21. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $17.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The stock has a market cap of $12.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.88 and a beta of 1.08.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 35.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. AES’s payout ratio is currently 95.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on AES. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.71.

AES Company 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.