Bank of Montreal Can Acquires 244,648 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 22.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,356,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 244,648 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in AES were worth $27,215,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AES by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,694,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $134,286,000 after acquiring an additional 82,956 shares during the period. M&G PLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,235,000 after acquiring an additional 732,457 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of AES by 3.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,769,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,805,000 after acquiring an additional 141,565 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of AES by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,522,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,658,000 after purchasing an additional 193,755 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in AES by 16.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,132,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,084,000 after acquiring an additional 444,252 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $13.04 on Friday. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $12.53 and a 12 month high of $22.21. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $16.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.72. The company has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.10.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.29%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AES shares. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.22.

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.