National Bank of Canada FI Purchases 222,280 Shares of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES)

Key Points

• National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in The AES Corporation by 48.4%, acquiring an additional 222,280 shares, bringing its total ownership to 681,962 shares worth approximately $8.47 million.
• AES reported earnings of $0.51 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' estimates by $0.12, but its revenue of $2.86 billion fell short of expectations.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.176 per share with an upcoming ex-dividend date of August 1st, offering an annualized yield of 5.5%.

National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 48.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 681,962 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 222,280 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.10% of AES worth $8,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Community Trust & Investment Co. boosted its position in AES by 37.4% during the first quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 291,418 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,619,000 after purchasing an additional 79,355 shares during the period. Lewis Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AES during the first quarter worth $1,172,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 2.5% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 824,080 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $10,235,000 after buying an additional 20,109 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 13.3% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,270,543 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $15,780,000 after buying an additional 148,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 39.6% during the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 1,349,118 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $16,756,000 after buying an additional 382,843 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of AES stock traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $13.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,877,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,762,270. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.96. The AES Corporation has a one year low of $9.46 and a one year high of $20.30. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $12.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46.

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

AES Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on AES shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Argus reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. HSBC lowered their price objective on AES from $15.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.67.

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.