Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Buys New Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 277,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,350,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 58,439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $888,000 after buying an additional 8,697 shares in the last quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. grew its holdings in AES by 42.3% in the third quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. now owns 6,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 1,844 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of AES by 91.3% during the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 9,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 4,441 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of AES by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 155,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,361,000 after purchasing an additional 4,638 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter valued at about $14,531,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $18.67 on Monday. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $11.43 and a 52-week high of $23.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $13.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93 and a beta of 1.08.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $3.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.20 billion. AES had a return on equity of 39.82% and a net margin of 4.40%. AES’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.1725 dividend. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. AES’s payout ratio is 95.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays cut 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. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.13.

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.