139,278 Shares in The AES Corporation $AES Acquired by Sciencast Management LP

Key Points

• Sciencast Management LP has acquired a new position in The AES Corporation, purchasing 139,278 shares valued at approximately $1.73 million.
• Institutional investors now own 93.13% of AES stock, indicating significant confidence in the company's performance.
• Despite a recent earnings report exceeding EPS expectations, analysts have mixed ratings for AES, with target prices ranging from $9.00 to $24.67.

Sciencast Management LP purchased a new position in shares of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 139,278 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,730,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AES. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of AES during the fourth quarter worth about $121,627,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its position in shares of AES by 21.8% during the first quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 27,518,952 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $341,785,000 after purchasing an additional 4,930,252 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of AES by 30.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,790,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $258,224,000 after purchasing an additional 4,842,149 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of AES by 130.4% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,950,924 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $50,848,000 after buying an additional 2,236,418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of AES by 8,650.0% during the fourth quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,750,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $22,522,000 after buying an additional 1,730,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Susquehanna increased their price objective on AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on AES from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded AES from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AES presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.67.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AES traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $12.86. 10,467,946 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,032,049. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46. The AES Corporation has a 12 month low of $9.46 and a 12 month high of $20.30. The company's 50 day moving average price is $13.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.16 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.92.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.