Optimize Financial Inc Buys New Shares in The AES Corporation $AES

Key Points

• Optimize Financial Inc purchased 23,422 shares of The AES Corporation for approximately $291,000, marking a new position in the utilities provider's stock.
• AES reported strong earnings, with $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, exceeding estimates, despite a 3.0% decline in quarterly revenue compared to the previous year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.176 per share, translating to a 5.5% yield for investors, based on a payout ratio of 49.30%.

Optimize Financial Inc acquired a new stake in The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 23,422 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AES. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in AES in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its stake in AES by 200.6% in the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the first quarter worth $40,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 760.4% during the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 2,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 235.4% during the first quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 3,595 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 2,523 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded AES from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Susquehanna increased their target price on AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Argus restated a "hold" rating on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on AES from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.67.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES stock traded up $0.03 on Friday, reaching $12.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,349,586 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,267,119. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46. The AES Corporation has a 12-month low of $9.46 and a 12-month high of $20.30. The company has a market capitalization of $9.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.07, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $13.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.75.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.12. AES had a return on equity of 19.02% and a net margin of 8.42%.The company had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.30%.

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.