Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Purchases 18,157 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 25.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 89,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,157 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $1,155,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AES. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the third quarter worth about $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in AES by 190.3% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,581 shares in the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC raised its position in shares of AES by 93.3% during the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,369 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 18,047.1% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 6,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 95.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,295 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 3,080 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of AES opened at $12.45 on Tuesday. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $9.88 and a twelve month high of $22.21. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.77. The company has a market cap of $8.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.65%. AES’s payout ratio is 29.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays dropped their price target on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. HSBC began coverage on AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.63.

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.