B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Sells 109,162 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG lessened its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 85.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,117 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 109,162 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in AES were worth $246,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of AES by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,354,000 after buying an additional 5,960,546 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in AES by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $330,125,000 after purchasing an additional 181,975 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in AES by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,879,259 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $88,536,000 after purchasing an additional 185,020 shares during the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT bought a new position in shares of AES in the 4th quarter valued at $69,083,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of AES by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,756,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,220,000 after buying an additional 249,486 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AES shares. Barclays decreased their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, HSBC initiated coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.29.

AES Stock Down 9.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $10.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.88 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. Analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is 29.54%.

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.