The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada lessened its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 11.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,407,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 187,852 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.20% of AES worth $18,114,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stephens Inc. AR raised its holdings in AES by 67.1% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,273,000 after purchasing an additional 133,308 shares during the period. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AES during the 4th quarter valued at $489,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in AES by 47.1% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 23,764 shares during the period. RWC Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in AES in the 4th quarter worth $4,762,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in AES by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,030,356 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $26,131,000 after purchasing an additional 434,356 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Argus reissued a "hold" rating on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.22.

AES Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of AES traded up $0.12 on Friday, hitting $10.17. 2,014,700 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,440,539. The AES Co. has a 1 year low of $9.46 and a 1 year high of $22.21. The stock's 50 day moving average is $10.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. AES's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

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.