The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Purchased by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,053,860 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 325,564 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.90% of AES worth $116,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AES. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 17.5% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 58,439 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $888,000 after acquiring an additional 8,697 shares during the period. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AES by 42.3% during the 3rd quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. now owns 6,202 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 1,844 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in AES by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 155,300 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,361,000 after buying an additional 4,638 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in AES by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 142,366 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,164,000 after buying an additional 9,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in AES by 25.8% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 64,118 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $975,000 after acquiring an additional 13,142 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on AES shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Argus restated a "buy" rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $21.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AES presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.13.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES traded down $0.05 on Friday, reaching $19.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,198,022 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,174,422. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $14.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.69 and a beta of 1.08. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $11.43 and a 52-week high of $22.60.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.20 billion. AES had a return on equity of 36.23% and a net margin of 4.40%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. AES's payout ratio is 95.83%.

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.