Atria Investments Inc Has $1.43 Million Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 28.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 111,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,860 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in AES were worth $1,434,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AES by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 830,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,667,000 after acquiring an additional 28,043 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in AES in the third quarter valued at about $347,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in AES by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 147,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,966,000 after purchasing an additional 12,841 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AES by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,596,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,016,000 after purchasing an additional 59,735 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Live Oak Investment Partners lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Live Oak Investment Partners now owns 29,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $587,000 after buying an additional 1,104 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

AES opened at $12.01 on Wednesday. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.88 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $11.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AES shares. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AES currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.30.

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.