The AES Corporation $AES Shares Sold by Northern Trust Corp

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp reduced its holdings in The AES Corporation by 2.1%, now owning about 6.4 million shares valued at approximately $79.7 million.
• AES reported $0.51 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates but showing a 3% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.176 per share, equating to an annual yield of 5.2% and a payout ratio of 49.3%.

Northern Trust Corp cut its holdings in shares of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 2.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,419,465 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 140,447 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.90% of AES worth $79,730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in AES by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $367,499,000 after buying an additional 7,519,129 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of AES during the fourth quarter worth $121,627,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AES by 3.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,134,771 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $88,614,000 after purchasing an additional 255,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Shore Management Inc. CT grew its stake in shares of AES by 13.6% during the first quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 6,097,946 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $75,736,000 after purchasing an additional 730,178 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $13.4650 on Monday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $12.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.48. The AES Corporation has a 12 month low of $9.46 and a 12 month 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.96.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. AES's revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of AES from $15.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of 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 research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AES from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, AES has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.

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