Cetera Investment Advisers Purchases 50,125 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 51.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 147,609 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 50,125 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in AES were worth $1,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AES. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of 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 period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in AES by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $367,499,000 after acquiring an additional 7,519,129 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in AES by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,948,807 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $205,261,000 after acquiring an additional 6,238,087 shares during the period. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT bought a new stake in AES in the fourth quarter valued at $69,083,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in AES in the fourth quarter valued at $33,964,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AES. Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America upgraded AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.33.

AES Trading Down 4.1%

Shares of AES opened at $11.71 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.57 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.34 billion, a PE ratio of 8.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $11.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.90.

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

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st were issued a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.01%. AES's dividend 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.

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