SG Americas Securities LLC Buys 289,298 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 3,275.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 298,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 289,298 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $3,837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new position in shares of AES during the third quarter valued at $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its position in AES by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt purchased a new stake in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $74,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in AES by 69.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,509 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AES has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.30.

AES Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE AES opened at $11.61 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.00. 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 12-month low of $11.08 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.69.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.06%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.