Comerica Bank Sells 38,279 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Comerica Bank lessened its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 19.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 153,906 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 38,279 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank's holdings in AES were worth $1,981,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in AES by 190.3% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its holdings in shares of AES by 79.5% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC raised its stake in AES by 93.3% in the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,369 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in AES by 601.5% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 5,745 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 4,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 18,047.1% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 6,136 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AES. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $10.00 price objective (down from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AES has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.33.

AES Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of AES stock traded up $0.02 on Thursday, reaching $12.54. The company had a trading volume of 4,579,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,872,665. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $9.57 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The firm has a market cap of $8.92 billion, a PE ratio of 8.71, 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. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $11.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.04.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.61%. AES's payout ratio is presently 38.04%.

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.