Ardsley Advisory Partners LP Decreases Holdings in The AES Corporation $AES

Key Points

• Ardsley Advisory Partners LP reduced its stake in The AES Corporation by 30.0%, now owning 315,000 shares valued at approximately $3.91 million.
• The AES Corporation announced a quarterly dividend of $0.176 per share, reflecting a 5.3% dividend yield.
• AES's most recent earnings report showed an EPS of $0.51, exceeding analyst expectations of $0.39, despite a 3.0% decline in revenue year-over-year.

Ardsley Advisory Partners LP lessened its stake in The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 30.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 315,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 135,000 shares during the quarter. Ardsley Advisory Partners LP's holdings in AES were worth $3,912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in AES by 53.2% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 238,362 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,068,000 after purchasing an additional 82,802 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in AES by 51.4% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 147,609 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,900,000 after purchasing an additional 50,125 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC grew its holdings in AES by 58.7% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 8,658 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 3,203 shares during the period. Collar Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in AES in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,522,000. Finally, Diligent Investors LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 14,719 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $189,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company's stock.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $12.93. The company had a trading volume of 12,318,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,549,896. The firm has a market cap of $9.20 billion, a PE ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.92. The AES Corporation has a 1-year low of $9.46 and a 1-year high of $20.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $12.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.97 billion. AES had a return on equity of 19.02% and a net margin of 8.42%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. AES's payout ratio is presently 49.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded AES from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Susquehanna raised their price target on AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Argus reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Two investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.