Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Purchases Shares of 132,193 The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 132,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,593,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of AES by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $775,354,000 after acquiring an additional 5,960,546 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $330,125,000 after acquiring an additional 181,975 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AES by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,694,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $134,286,000 after acquiring an additional 82,956 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,235,000 after acquiring an additional 732,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,961,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,989,000 after acquiring an additional 439,493 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $10.56 on Monday. 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 AES Co. has a 1 year low of $9.88 and a 1 year high of $22.21. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.72. The firm has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.99.

AES Announces Dividend

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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.67%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is 48.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AES. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America initiated coverage on AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. HSBC initiated coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.