Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases 227,101 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,238,885 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 227,101 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.46% of AES worth $41,716,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of AES by 190.3% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,581 shares in the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 93.3% during the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of AES by 601.5% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 5,745 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 4,926 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in AES by 18,047.1% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 6,136 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AES by 95.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,295 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 3,080 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AES. Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $13.71.

AES Stock Up 2.6 %

NYSE:AES traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $10.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,676,145 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,975,006. The business's 50-day moving average is $11.27 and its 200-day moving average is $12.48. The company has a market cap of $7.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The AES Co. has a one year low of $9.57 and a one year high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.99%. AES's dividend payout ratio is 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.