The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Stevens Capital Management LP

Stevens Capital Management LP lessened its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 31.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 67,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 30,520 shares during the quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in AES were worth $1,292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC raised its stake in AES by 39.8% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 11,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $178,000 after acquiring an additional 3,338 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 92,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 5,453 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in AES by 35.2% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 965 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in AES by 16.6% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,005,000 after buying an additional 9,436 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its stake in AES by 47.7% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 117,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,779,000 after buying an additional 37,783 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AES. Mizuho started coverage on shares of AES in a report on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays decreased their price objective on AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 14th. UBS Group cut their target price on AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.13.

AES Stock Performance

AES traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $17.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,772,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,244,643. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $11.43 and a twelve month high of $23.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42. The stock has a market cap of $12.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.15 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.77.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.06. AES had a return on equity of 38.76% and a net margin of 2.12%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. AES’s payout ratio is 209.10%.

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.