66,741 Shares in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Purchased by Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV

Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV acquired a new position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 66,741 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $859,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in shares of AES by 67.1% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,273,000 after buying an additional 133,308 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in AES by 5,143.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $991,000 after acquiring an additional 75,509 shares during the period. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd acquired a new position in AES in the 4th quarter valued at $489,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AES during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,375,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in AES by 47.1% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 23,764 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $10.25. 16,499,389 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,659,485. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $11.24 and a 200 day moving average of $12.30. The firm has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.12, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $9.57 and a 12 month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $10.00 price target (down previously from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays reduced their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America raised AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $13.71.

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.