Kovack Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES)

Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 93.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 54,991 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 26,524 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.'s holdings in AES were worth $683,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AES. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its stake in shares of AES by 79.5% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of AES in the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 200.6% in the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 760.4% in the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 2,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 235.4% in the first quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 3,595 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 2,523 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.67.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $13.80. 7,837,142 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,724,774. The AES Corporation has a 52-week low of $9.46 and a 52-week high of $20.30. The stock has a market cap of $9.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.50, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. The stock's 50-day moving average is $11.33 and its 200 day moving average is $11.25.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. AES had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 18.06%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.04%.

AES Company 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.