NFJ Investment Group LLC boosted its position in The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 192.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,577,652 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,037,700 shares during the quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC owned about 0.22% of AES worth $19,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Community Trust & Investment Co. raised its holdings in shares of AES by 37.4% during the first quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 291,418 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,619,000 after buying an additional 79,355 shares during the last quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC bought a new position in AES in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,172,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AES by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 824,080 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $10,235,000 after acquiring an additional 20,109 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AES by 13.3% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,270,543 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $15,780,000 after acquiring an additional 148,772 shares during the period. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC raised its holdings in AES by 39.6% during the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 1,349,118 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $16,756,000 after purchasing an additional 382,843 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.
AES Stock Up 0.0%
AES stock traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $12.73. The company had a trading volume of 5,112,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,958,375. The firm's fifty day moving average is $13.01 and its 200-day moving average is $11.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.92. The AES Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $9.46 and a fifty-two week high of $20.30. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.12. AES had a net margin of 8.42% and a return on equity of 19.02%. The business had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. AES's quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 earnings per share 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 given a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.30%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
AES has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded AES from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of AES from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Argus reissued a "hold" rating on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Two equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.67.
Get Our Latest Analysis on AES
AES Profile
(
Free Report)
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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