600,545 Shares in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Purchased by First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 600,545 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,459,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. owned about 0.08% of AES at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in AES in the 4th quarter worth approximately $121,627,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of AES by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $632,865,000 after purchasing an additional 8,027,426 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of AES by 35.7% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $367,499,000 after buying an additional 7,519,129 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 6,238,087 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Shore Management Inc. CT acquired a new stake in AES during the fourth quarter worth about $69,083,000. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup reduced their target price on AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Argus restated a "hold" rating on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. HSBC reduced their price target on shares of AES from $15.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.22.

AES Stock Performance

AES traded up $0.41 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $11.29. 18,811,538 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,689,317. The stock's fifty day moving average is $10.57 and its 200 day moving average is $11.52. 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 one year low of $9.46 and a one year high of $20.63. The firm has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.96.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.