AXQ Capital LP Increases Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

AXQ Capital LP increased its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 526.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 91,867 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 77,203 shares during the quarter. AXQ Capital LP’s holdings in AES were worth $1,182,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AES. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in AES by 8.0% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in AES by 664.7% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 219,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,398,000 after purchasing an additional 190,596 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in AES in the third quarter valued at $2,573,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its holdings in AES by 8.3% in the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 49,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $999,000 after purchasing an additional 3,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in AES by 10.5% in the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 172,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,450,000 after purchasing an additional 16,365 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $13.07 on Friday. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.88 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The stock has a market cap of $9.30 billion, a PE ratio of 9.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. 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 of $11.28 and a 200 day moving average of $13.99.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.73 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 29.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.