Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Purchases 9,085 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. boosted its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 75,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,085 shares during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P.’s holdings in AES were worth $970,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new position in AES during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 93.3% during the 4th quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in AES during the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new position in AES during the 4th quarter valued at about $95,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in AES during the 4th quarter valued at about $95,000. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.80.

AES Stock Up 11.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $11.59 on Friday. The AES Co. has a one year low of $9.88 and a one year high of $22.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of $11.51 and a 200-day moving average of $14.53. 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 stock has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The firm 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 company earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.