WASHINGTON TRUST Co Has $3.69 Million Stock Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co boosted its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 17,133.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 191,463 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 190,352 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in AES were worth $3,686,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AES. Monarch Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AES by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 78,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,907 shares during the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its position in AES by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 3,468,009 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,759,000 after buying an additional 298,558 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its position in AES by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 52,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after buying an additional 2,675 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new stake in AES during the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,000. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its holdings in AES by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 79,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,540,000 after purchasing an additional 21,688 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE AES traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $17.67. 5,071,837 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,410,535. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.53. The AES Co. has a one year low of $11.43 and a one year high of $25.74. The company has a market cap of $12.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.07.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.36 billion. AES had a net margin of 2.12% and a return on equity of 38.76%. AES’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. On average, analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.90%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 209.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on AES. Barclays decreased their price target on AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research note on Monday. Finally, Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.57.

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.