Northern Trust Corp Acquires 628,911 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,559,912 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 628,911 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 0.92% of AES worth $84,426,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AES. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $632,865,000 after buying an additional 8,027,426 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,895,678 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $216,862,000 after purchasing an additional 381,761 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in AES by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,948,807 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $205,261,000 after purchasing an additional 6,238,087 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in AES by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,879,259 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $88,536,000 after buying an additional 185,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Shore Management Inc. CT acquired a new position in shares of AES in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $69,083,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AES shares. Bank of America upgraded AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays dropped their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. 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 note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $13.71.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock traded up $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $11.14. 14,630,598 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,698,156. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a PE ratio of 7.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $11.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.18.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced 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 company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.32%. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.