The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Levin Capital Strategies L.P.

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. cut its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 61.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 386,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 625,634 shares during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P.’s holdings in AES were worth $7,444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in AES by 16.6% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,005,000 after acquiring an additional 9,436 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in AES by 17.5% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 58,439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $888,000 after acquiring an additional 8,697 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. raised its position in AES by 131.0% during the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 301,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,577,000 after acquiring an additional 170,752 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of AES by 17.9% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,000,303 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,605,000 after buying an additional 456,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of AES by 42.3% in the third quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. now owns 6,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 1,844 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Trading Up 4.3 %

AES stock traded up $0.78 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $18.95. 6,412,902 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,222,271. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.09 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.93. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $11.43 and a 12-month high of $23.07.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.36 billion. AES had a net margin of 2.12% and a return on equity of 38.76%. AES’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.1725 dividend. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. AES’s payout ratio is 209.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AES. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.13.

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.