Neuberger Berman Group LLC Cuts Holdings in The AES Corporation $AES

Key Points

• Neuberger Berman Group LLC reduced its holdings in The AES Corporation by 25.1%, now owning 82,404 shares valued at approximately $1.02 million.
• AES reported $0.51 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, but its revenue decreased 3.0% year-over-year to $2.86 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.176 per share, reflecting an annual yield of 5.3% with a payout ratio of 49.3%.

Neuberger Berman Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 25.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 82,404 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 27,559 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC's holdings in AES were worth $1,023,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its position in AES by 79.5% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in AES in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. CVA Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of AES by 200.6% during the 1st 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. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of AES during the 1st quarter worth $40,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its position in shares of AES by 760.4% during the 4th 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. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

AES Trading Down 0.7%

AES stock traded down $0.0960 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $13.2040. 3,982,597 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,577,157. The AES Corporation has a 52-week low of $9.46 and a 52-week high of $20.30. The company has a market capitalization of $9.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $12.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.43.

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

AES Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AES. Wall Street Zen raised AES from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reduced 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. Jefferies Financial Group cut AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AES has a consensus 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.