Freestone Grove Partners LP Takes Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 73,704 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $949,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of AES by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,559,912 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $84,426,000 after acquiring an additional 628,911 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in AES by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,429,483 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,267,000 after purchasing an additional 25,395 shares during the period. Decade Renewable Partners LP raised its stake in AES by 58.9% during the 4th quarter. Decade Renewable Partners LP now owns 416,600 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,362,000 after buying an additional 154,400 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its stake 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 worth $35,000 after buying an additional 1,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC increased its position in AES by 242.8% during the fourth quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 881,345 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $11,343,000 after acquiring an additional 624,245 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna reduced 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. dropped their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America raised AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $10.00 price target (down previously from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AES currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $13.71.

AES Trading Up 1.8 %

AES traded up $0.19 on Tuesday, hitting $10.45. The company had a trading volume of 12,177,202 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,661,551. The company has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of 7.25, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $11.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.25. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.57 and a 12-month high of $22.21.

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

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. 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.