Schroder Investment Management Group Grows Stock Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 19.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 54,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,809 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in AES were worth $689,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allstate Corp purchased a new position in shares of AES in the 4th quarter worth $268,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in AES by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 222,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,575 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its stake in shares of AES by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 40,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $527,000 after purchasing an additional 3,759 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 26.9% in the 4th quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 473,481 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,094,000 after purchasing an additional 100,498 shares during the period. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 41,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $530,000 after buying an additional 9,853 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on AES shares. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. HSBC began coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.29.

AES Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE AES opened at $10.69 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a PE ratio of 7.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. 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 $9.88 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $11.38 and its 200 day moving average is $13.51.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

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.