Focus Partners Wealth Lowers Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Focus Partners Wealth decreased its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 66.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,673 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 74,338 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth's holdings in AES were worth $485,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in AES by 67.1% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,273,000 after buying an additional 133,308 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in AES by 5,143.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $991,000 after acquiring an additional 75,509 shares during the period. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd purchased a new position in AES during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $489,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AES by 47.1% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 23,764 shares during the period. Finally, RWC Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of AES in the fourth quarter worth $4,762,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Trading Up 3.9%

Shares of NYSE:AES traded up $0.38 during trading on Monday, hitting $10.01. The company had a trading volume of 22,736,547 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,406,761. The stock has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.75. The AES Co. has a one year low of $9.46 and a one year high of $22.21.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AES shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.22.

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.