Quadrature Capital Ltd Lowers Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Quadrature Capital Ltd reduced its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 79,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 97,179 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd’s holdings in AES were worth $1,587,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in AES during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of AES during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its position in AES by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in AES by 102.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in AES in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $13.05 on Friday. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $12.53 and a twelve month high of $22.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.01.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.40%. This is a positive change from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho reduced their price target on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.22.

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.