Czech National Bank Buys 9,337 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Czech National Bank raised its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 154,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,337 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in AES were worth $1,984,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AES. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in AES by 161.8% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 107,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 66,145 shares during the period. Rock Point Advisors LLC grew its position in AES by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 760,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,261,000 after purchasing an additional 195,460 shares during the period. M&G PLC increased its stake in AES by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,235,000 after purchasing an additional 732,457 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in AES by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 406,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,231,000 after buying an additional 43,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of AES by 28.4% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 257,368 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,163,000 after buying an additional 56,879 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AES shares. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America began coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, HSBC initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.30.

AES Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $11.99 on Friday. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $11.57 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of $13.03 and a 200-day moving average of $15.96. The firm has a market cap of $8.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.33, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.00.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This is an increase from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.87%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.61%.

AES 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.