Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Sells 56,020 Shares of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd reduced its stake in shares of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 80.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,986 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 56,020 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's holdings in AES were worth $174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Community Trust & Investment Co. raised its position in AES by 37.4% in the 1st quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 291,418 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,619,000 after purchasing an additional 79,355 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in AES by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,879,259 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $88,536,000 after purchasing an additional 185,020 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in AES by 141.0% in the 1st quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 66,841 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $830,000 after purchasing an additional 39,107 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in AES by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 689,534 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,564,000 after purchasing an additional 129,782 shares during the period. Finally, Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. purchased a new position in AES in the 4th quarter worth $4,936,000. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.22.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock traded down $0.45 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $11.07. 19,339,191 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,341,520. The AES Corporation has a 52-week low of $9.46 and a 52-week high of $20.30. The stock has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.02, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. The stock's 50-day moving average is $10.80 and its 200 day moving average is $11.21.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. AES had a return on equity of 18.06% and a net margin of 10.67%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Company 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.