Securian Asset Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Securian Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,214 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,105 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $492,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AES. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the third quarter worth about $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 190.3% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 93.3% during the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the third quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 18,047.1% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 6,136 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $13.05 on Tuesday. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $9.88 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.06. The company has a market capitalization of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.39%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AES shares. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.30.

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.