Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Increases Stock Position in The AES Corporation $AES

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in The AES Corporation by 40.4%, acquiring a total of 126,302 shares valued at approximately $1.57 million.
• Institutional investors control 93.13% of AES's stock, with several firms like Point72 Asset Management and Deutsche Bank significantly boosting their holdings in recent quarters.
• The AES Corporation reported $0.51 earnings per share in its last quarterly earnings, exceeding analyst expectations, despite a 3% decline in quarterly revenue compared to the previous year.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 40.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 126,302 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 36,358 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.'s holdings in AES were worth $1,569,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AES. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of AES during the 4th quarter worth approximately $121,627,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of AES by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $367,499,000 after acquiring an additional 7,519,129 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of AES by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,790,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $258,224,000 after acquiring an additional 4,842,149 shares in the last quarter. Empyrean Capital Partners LP bought a new position in shares of AES during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,327,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of AES by 130.4% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,950,924 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $50,848,000 after acquiring an additional 2,236,418 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AES. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AES from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. HSBC cut their price target on shares of AES from $15.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of AES from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.67.

AES Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE:AES opened at $13.56 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.55, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.96. The AES Corporation has a 1-year low of $9.46 and a 1-year high of $20.30. The company's fifty day moving average price is $12.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business's quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.2%. AES's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.30%.

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.

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