Raymond James Financial Inc. Has $39.59 Million Position in The AES Corporation $AES

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in The AES Corporation by 20.8% during the first quarter, owning approximately 3.2 million shares valued at $39.6 million.
• The stock has experienced a recent trading rise, with shares opening at $13.4650 and a current market cap of $9.59 billion.
• AES announced a quarterly dividend of $0.176, with a yield of 5.2% and a payout ratio of 49.30%.

Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 20.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,187,171 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 548,136 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.45% of AES worth $39,585,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of AES in the 4th quarter worth $121,627,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in AES by 35.7% in the fourth 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. lifted its holdings in AES by 30.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,790,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $258,224,000 after acquiring an additional 4,842,149 shares during the last quarter. Empyrean Capital Partners LP bought a new position in shares of AES during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,327,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of AES by 130.4% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,950,924 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $50,848,000 after purchasing an additional 2,236,418 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of AES stock traded up $0.11 during trading on Thursday, hitting $13.47. 1,152,314 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,231,711. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $12.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.53. The AES Corporation has a twelve month low of $9.46 and a twelve month high of $20.30.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.12. AES had a net margin of 8.42% and a return on equity of 19.02%. The company had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. The company's revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on AES shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AES from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on AES from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Citigroup cut their target price on AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.