D.A. Davidson & CO. Lowers Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

D.A. Davidson & CO. lessened its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 57.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 18,443 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in AES were worth $178,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in shares of AES by 67.1% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,273,000 after buying an additional 133,308 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of AES by 5,143.7% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 75,509 shares in the last quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 760,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,261,000 after purchasing an additional 195,460 shares during the period. Leibman Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of AES during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,375,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in AES by 47.1% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 23,764 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Trading Down 4.7 %

NYSE AES opened at $10.41 on Friday. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.88 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.59. 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 stock has a market cap of $7.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.76%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Susquehanna dropped their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America assumed coverage on AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.80.

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.