First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 53.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 471,026 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 164,910 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.07% of AES worth $6,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AES. Stephens Inc. AR grew its position in AES by 67.1% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,273,000 after buying an additional 133,308 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of AES by 5,143.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $991,000 after acquiring an additional 75,509 shares during the period. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of AES in the 4th quarter worth $489,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in AES in the 4th quarter worth $2,375,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in AES by 47.1% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 23,764 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on AES. Bank of America raised AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $13.71.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $10.19. 17,917,439 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,637,988. The AES Co. has a 52 week low of $9.57 and a 52 week high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $11.24 and a 200-day moving average of $12.34. The stock has a market cap of $7.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.08, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.91%. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.04%.

About AES

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.