Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Buys New Shares in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 480,606 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,185,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP owned about 0.07% of AES at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in AES by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $632,865,000 after purchasing an additional 8,027,426 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in AES by 35.7% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $367,499,000 after buying an additional 7,519,129 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in AES by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,948,807 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $205,261,000 after acquiring an additional 6,238,087 shares in the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT purchased a new stake in shares of AES in the fourth quarter valued at about $69,083,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in AES during the fourth quarter worth about $33,964,000. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AES. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $10.00 target price (down from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $13.71.

AES Price Performance

AES stock traded up $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $11.14. 14,686,779 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,698,239. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.18. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $9.57 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The company has a market cap of $7.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.74, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.32%. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.04%.

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.