Verition Fund Management LLC Decreases Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Verition Fund Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 699,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 55,761 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC owned 0.10% of AES worth $14,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AES. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in AES by 1.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,694,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $134,286,000 after acquiring an additional 82,956 shares during the last quarter. M&G PLC grew its holdings in AES by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,235,000 after purchasing an additional 732,457 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in AES by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,769,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,805,000 after purchasing an additional 141,565 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in AES by 5.8% in the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,522,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,658,000 after purchasing an additional 193,755 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of AES by 16.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,132,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,084,000 after buying an additional 444,252 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Price Performance

NYSE AES opened at $13.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.72. 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 AES Co. has a 52-week low of $12.53 and a 52-week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. AES’s payout ratio is 47.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AES. Barclays raised their price target on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America started coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.22.

About AES

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.