First Financial Bankshares Inc Has $1.98 Million Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

First Financial Bankshares Inc lessened its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 16.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 153,715 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 30,578 shares during the period. First Financial Bankshares Inc’s holdings in AES were worth $1,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in AES by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 104,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,097,000 after acquiring an additional 8,061 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 8.0% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in AES by 664.7% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 219,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,398,000 after purchasing an additional 190,596 shares during the period. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH raised its position in AES by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH now owns 46,463 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $922,000 after purchasing an additional 7,039 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in AES during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,573,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES opened at $12.90 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $11.23 and a 200-day moving average of $14.03. The AES Co. has a one year low of $9.88 and a one year high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $9.18 billion, a PE ratio of 8.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94.

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

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AES has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. HSBC began coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.30.

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.