The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Bought by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 664.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 219,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 190,596 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in AES were worth $4,398,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in AES by 160.3% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $140,000 after buying an additional 4,300 shares during the last quarter. River Street Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 18,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 1,373 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 830 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 8.4% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 104,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,097,000 after purchasing an additional 8,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AES by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 447,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,984,000 after purchasing an additional 16,750 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on AES shares. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays raised their target price on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AES presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.38.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE:AES opened at $13.04 on Monday. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $12.97 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The company has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $16.85 and its 200-day moving average is $17.89. 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 results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. AES’s payout ratio is 47.92%.

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.