Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Takes Position in The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES)

Key Points

• Mediolanum International Funds Ltd has acquired a new stake in The AES Corporation, purchasing 47,665 shares valued at approximately $592,000.
• The AES Corporation’s recent quarterly earnings report revealed an EPS of $0.27, missing estimates by $0.10, alongside revenue of $2.93 billion, below the expected $3.13 billion.
• AES has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.176 per share with a yield of 5.24%, set to be paid on August 15th.

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new stake in The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 47,665 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $592,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AES by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 174,884 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,172,000 after purchasing an additional 13,122 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in AES by 30.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 192,421 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,390,000 after buying an additional 44,812 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in AES by 104.0% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 90,902 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,129,000 after acquiring an additional 46,344 shares in the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT increased its holdings in shares of AES by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 6,097,946 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $75,736,000 after acquiring an additional 730,178 shares during the period. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of AES by 93.2% in the 1st quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 54,991 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $683,000 after acquiring an additional 26,524 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on AES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AES from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered AES from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AES has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $24.67.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $13.52. The stock had a trading volume of 11,041,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,180,429. The AES Corporation has a 1-year low of $9.46 and a 1-year high of $20.30. The firm has a market cap of $9.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.35, a PEG ratio of 1.56 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 business's fifty day moving average is $11.57 and its 200-day moving average is $11.29.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.12. AES had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 18.06%. The company had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. AES's quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.04%.

AES 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.