The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Raymond James & Associates

Raymond James & Associates trimmed its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,719,332 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,993 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 0.38% of AES worth $48,758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of AES by 76.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 71,348,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,373,460,000 after purchasing an additional 31,009,718 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in AES by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 69,671,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,341,277,000 after buying an additional 2,537,128 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of AES by 38.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,821,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $559,689,000 after acquiring an additional 10,256,781 shares during the period. Electron Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,060,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $122,513,000 after acquiring an additional 686,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AES by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,611,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $115,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484,052 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AES traded down $0.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $18.67. 11,127,623 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,577,789. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.93 and a beta of 1.08. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $11.43 and a 12-month high of $23.07.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.06. AES had a return on equity of 39.82% and a net margin of 4.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 95.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on AES. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target on the stock. Argus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.13.

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.