Gould Capital LLC Purchases 55,619 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Gould Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 32.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 225,196 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 55,619 shares during the quarter. AES makes up about 2.0% of Gould Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Gould Capital LLC's holdings in AES were worth $2,898,000 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. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in shares of AES by 67.1% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,273,000 after purchasing an additional 133,308 shares in the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd bought a new stake in AES during the fourth quarter worth about $489,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of AES by 47.1% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 23,764 shares in the last quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP bought a new position in shares of AES in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,762,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 27.2% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,030,356 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,131,000 after acquiring an additional 434,356 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AES Trading Up 3.8%

AES stock traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $10.07. 11,821,654 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,452,872. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $9.46 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The firm's 50 day moving average is $10.91 and its 200-day moving average is $11.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.99, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Argus reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently 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.