The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Purchased by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 56.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 452,197 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 163,550 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp owned about 0.06% of AES worth $5,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AES. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. acquired a new stake in AES in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,936,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of AES by 106.4% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 56,613 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $729,000 after purchasing an additional 29,182 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in AES by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 188,157 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,422,000 after buying an additional 3,335 shares during the last quarter. Natixis acquired a new position in AES during the 4th quarter valued at about $458,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in AES by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,301,147 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $55,350,000 after buying an additional 1,062,074 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $10.00 price target (down previously from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $13.71.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $10.19. The company had a trading volume of 17,917,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,637,974. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The company has a market capitalization of $7.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The company's fifty day moving average is $11.24 and its 200-day moving average is $12.37. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

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 paid 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 6.91%. AES's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

AES Company 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.