The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Purchased by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 25.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 559,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 111,910 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $7,204,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter valued at $63,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp purchased a new position in AES in the 4th quarter valued at $95,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in AES in the 4th quarter valued at $95,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in AES by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 1,551 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Up 11.6 %

AES opened at $11.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.05, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s fifty day moving average is $11.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.59. The AES Co. has a one year low of $9.88 and a one year high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is 48.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AES shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America initiated coverage on AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. HSBC initiated coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.80.

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.