Andra AP fonden Invests $2.76 Million in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Andra AP fonden acquired a new position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 214,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,763,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in AES by 8.0% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora increased its holdings in AES by 1.0% during the third quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 84,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after buying an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. Live Oak Investment Partners increased its holdings in AES by 3.9% during the third quarter. Live Oak Investment Partners now owns 29,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $587,000 after buying an additional 1,104 shares during the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. increased its holdings in AES by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 16,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $206,000 after buying an additional 1,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in AES by 3.5% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 34,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $683,000 after buying an additional 1,141 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $11.23 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.32 and a 200-day moving average of $14.29. The stock has a market cap of $7.98 billion, a PE ratio of 7.80, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $9.88 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.27%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is 29.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AES shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, HSBC began coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.30.

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.