Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Has $492,000 Stock Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 38,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in AES were worth $492,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in AES by 67.1% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,273,000 after acquiring an additional 133,308 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in AES by 52.2% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $219,000 after acquiring an additional 5,831 shares during the period. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AES in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $303,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in AES by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551 shares during the period. Finally, Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in AES in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $480,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AES shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. HSBC started coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.80.

AES Stock Up 3.5 %

AES stock opened at $10.28 on Wednesday. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $9.88 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $11.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.85%. This is a positive change from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.61%.

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.