Collar Capital Management LLC Buys New Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Collar Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 195,988 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,522,000. AES makes up about 2.1% of Collar Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America raised AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AES presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $13.71.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $10.45 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.24. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $9.57 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The firm has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio is presently 38.04%.

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.

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