Leibman Financial Services Inc. Takes $2.38 Million Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Leibman Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 184,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,375,000. AES makes up 1.7% of Leibman Financial Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in AES by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,354,000 after acquiring an additional 5,960,546 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the second quarter valued at $30,746,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in AES by 169.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,143,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,002,000 after buying an additional 1,348,195 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in AES by 30.3% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,838,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,000,000 after buying an additional 892,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP bought a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter worth about $17,390,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AES shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna cut their price target on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.30.

AES Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $11.71 on Tuesday. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $11.57 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.11. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $8.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.13, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.00.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.01%. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. AES’s payout ratio is presently 48.61%.

About AES

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.