Swiss National Bank Sells 59,000 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Swiss National Bank reduced its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,093,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 59,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.31% of AES worth $40,308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. now owns 15,767 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 4,185 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new position in AES during the 4th quarter worth $240,000. Hollow Brook Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 49.1% during the 4th quarter. Hollow Brook Wealth Management LLC now owns 214,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,133,000 after acquiring an additional 70,717 shares during the period. Beck Bode LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 595,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,456,000 after purchasing an additional 50,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its stake in AES by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 68,986 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Trading Down 0.3 %

AES opened at $18.82 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $11.43 and a fifty-two week high of $23.07. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $16.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14 and a beta of 1.08.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.16. The business 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 36.23% and a net margin of 4.40%. AES’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a $0.1725 dividend. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. AES’s payout ratio is presently 95.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Argus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays cut their target price on AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a report on Monday, March 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.