The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Crestline Management LP

Crestline Management LP reduced its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 72.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 50,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 134,235 shares during the quarter. Crestline Management LP's holdings in AES were worth $644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AES. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $632,865,000 after buying an additional 8,027,426 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of AES by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $367,499,000 after acquiring an additional 7,519,129 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 2.3% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in AES by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,948,807 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $205,261,000 after purchasing an additional 6,238,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in AES by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,879,259 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $88,536,000 after buying an additional 185,020 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $10.00 price target (down previously from $15.00) on shares of AES in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $13.71.

AES Stock Up 5.7%

AES stock traded up $0.68 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $12.55. 23,711,434 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,844,054. The AES Co. has a one year low of $9.57 and a one year high of $22.21. The company has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a PE ratio of 8.72, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $11.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast 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 issued a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.61%. AES's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.04%.

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.