Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 1,873 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 8.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,049 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,873 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in AES were worth $422,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AES. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in AES by 25.1% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 62,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,117,000 after buying an additional 12,510 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in AES during the first quarter worth $189,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in AES by 672.0% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 63,662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,141,000 after buying an additional 55,416 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in AES by 28.1% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 10,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $188,000 after purchasing an additional 2,290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in AES by 0.5% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 205,127 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Price Performance

AES stock opened at $13.74 on Wednesday. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $13.27 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The stock has a market cap of $9.77 billion, a PE ratio of 9.54 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $0.1725 dividend. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. AES’s payout ratio is 47.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AES has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.38.

AES 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.