Swiss National Bank Sells 630,400 Shares of The AES Corporation $AES

Swiss National Bank trimmed its stake in shares of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 31.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,378,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 630,400 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.19% of AES worth $17,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its stake in AES by 79.5% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in AES during the first quarter worth about $35,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in AES by 200.6% during the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in AES during the first quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its stake in AES by 760.4% during the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 2,958 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on AES shares. Citigroup cut their price target on AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. HSBC reduced their price target on AES from $15.00 to $14.00 in a report on Monday, May 5th. Barclays boosted their price target on AES from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AES currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.67.

AES Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of AES stock traded up $0.12 on Monday, hitting $13.43. The company had a trading volume of 3,584,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,631,501. The stock's 50-day moving average is $12.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.40. The AES Corporation has a twelve month low of $9.46 and a twelve month high of $20.30. The firm has a market cap of $9.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.82.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last released 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 business had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. AES's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.30%.

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.