Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 876,552 Shares of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES)

Key Points

• Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in The AES Corporation by 66.5%, selling 876,552 shares during the first quarter, leaving them with approximately 0.06% ownership valued at $5.48 million.
• Several institutional investors have increased their stakes in AES, including FMR LLC, which boosted its position by 19.5%, now holding over 49 million shares worth around $632 million.
• AES reported a quarterly earnings miss with $0.27 EPS, falling short of estimates by $0.10 and generating $2.93 billion in revenue compared to expected $3.13 billion.

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 66.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 441,113 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 876,552 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.06% of AES worth $5,479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AES. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its position in shares of AES by 79.5% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AES in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. CVA Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 200.6% in the 1st quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its stake in AES by 760.4% in the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 2,958 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC raised its position in shares of AES by 235.4% during the first quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 3,595 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 2,523 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AES. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. HSBC decreased their target price on shares of AES from $15.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on AES from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.67.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AES traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $13.09. The company had a trading volume of 9,409,564 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,970,402. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $11.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.28. 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 AES Corporation has a 1 year low of $9.46 and a 1 year high of $20.30. The company has a market capitalization of $9.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.95.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a net margin of 10.67% and a return on equity of 18.06%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. AES's payout ratio is 38.04%.

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.