Arizona State Retirement System Increases Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 206,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,885 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in AES were worth $2,658,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 8.0% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its stake in AES by 1.0% in the third quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 84,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Live Oak Investment Partners grew its stake in AES by 3.9% in the third quarter. Live Oak Investment Partners now owns 29,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104 shares in the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. grew its stake in AES by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 16,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 1,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in AES by 3.5% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 34,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $11.79 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.29. The company has a market cap of $8.38 billion, a PE ratio of 8.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.88 and a 12-month high of $22.21.

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

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders 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 5.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on AES. HSBC began coverage on AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays decreased 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. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AES presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.30.

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.