Choreo LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Choreo LLC trimmed its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 37.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,905 shares during the period. Choreo LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of AES by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,354,000 after purchasing an additional 5,960,546 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of AES by 169.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,143,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,002,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348,195 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of AES by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,838,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,000,000 after acquiring an additional 892,500 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP purchased a new stake in AES during the 3rd quarter worth $17,390,000. Finally, M&G PLC raised its position in AES by 12.7% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,235,000 after purchasing an additional 732,457 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock opened at $9.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.97. 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 AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.90 and a 12-month high of $22.21.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.08%. AES’s payout ratio is 48.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AES. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America assumed coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AES currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.80.

About AES

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.