Signaturefd LLC Raises Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 90.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,913 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 68.8% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 1,088 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 57.8% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 35.2% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 965 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 1,779 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional bought a new position in shares of AES during the 4th quarter valued at $70,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AES. Barclays lowered their price target on AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Mizuho began coverage on AES in a report on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a report on Monday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.13.

AES Price Performance

NYSE:AES opened at $17.13 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.77. The stock has a market cap of $12.17 billion, a PE ratio of 51.70 and a beta of 1.08. The AES Co. has a 52 week low of $11.43 and a 52 week high of $23.81.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.36 billion. AES had a return on equity of 38.76% and a net margin of 2.12%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. AES’s payout ratio is 209.10%.

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.