HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 264,836 Shares of The AES Corporation $AES

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in The AES Corporation by 22.3%, acquiring an additional 264,836 shares, bringing its total holdings to 1,453,840 shares valued at $18,057,000.
• AES reported a quarterly EPS of $0.51, surpassing analyst estimates of $0.39, with a revenue of $2.86 billion, slightly below expectations.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.176 per share, translating to an annual yield of 5.3%, with a payout ratio of 49.3%.

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 22.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,453,840 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 264,836 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.20% of AES worth $18,057,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AES. Mariner LLC lifted its stake in AES by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 84,061 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,082,000 after acquiring an additional 4,319 shares during the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its stake in AES by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 416,260 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,357,000 after buying an additional 15,626 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of AES during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,809,000. Freedom Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in AES by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 29,703 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 2,505 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of AES by 53.9% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 471,026 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,062,000 after purchasing an additional 164,910 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

AES Trading Down 0.9%

AES stock traded down $0.1250 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $13.1750. The stock had a trading volume of 3,878,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,576,437. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $12.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46. The AES Corporation has a one year low of $9.46 and a one year high of $20.30. The stock has a market cap of $9.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.96.

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

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. AES's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AES shares. HSBC decreased their target price on AES from $15.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AES presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.