The AES Corporation $AES Shares Sold by Aberdeen Group plc

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc reduced its holdings in The AES Corporation by 86.7% during Q1, selling 320,139 shares and leaving it with 48,904 shares valued at approximately $605,000.
• Despite Aberdeen's sale, other institutional investors have increased their stakes, with Optiver Holding B.V. raising its position by 79.5% in the last quarter.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for AES, with average target prices ranging from $9.00 to $24.67, indicating varying levels of confidence in the company’s future performance.

Aberdeen Group plc reduced its stake in The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 86.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,904 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 320,139 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc's holdings in AES were worth $605,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its stake in AES by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AES during the first quarter worth about $35,000. CVA Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of AES by 200.6% during the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of AES during the first quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC grew 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 buying an additional 2,958 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

AES stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $13.38. The stock had a trading volume of 982,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,229,706. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.43, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.96. The AES Corporation has a 1-year low of $9.46 and a 1-year high of $20.30. The stock's fifty day moving average is $12.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.53.

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

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders 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 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Argus restated a "hold" rating on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AES presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.67.

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.