Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY Sells 20,301 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lessened its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 168,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 20,301 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY’s holdings in AES were worth $2,168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of AES by 5,143.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 75,509 shares during the period. Rock Point Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 34.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 760,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,261,000 after acquiring an additional 195,460 shares during the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AES in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,375,000. M&G PLC grew its position in shares of AES by 12.7% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,235,000 after purchasing an additional 732,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in AES by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 406,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,231,000 after purchasing an additional 43,792 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna reduced their price objective 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. Bank of America started coverage on AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, HSBC initiated coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AES has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.80.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $10.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.22. The AES Co. has a one year low of $10.33 and a one year high of $22.21.

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.176 dividend. This is an increase from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. AES’s payout ratio is presently 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.