IFM Investors Pty Ltd Purchases 1,341 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 143,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,341 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in AES were worth $2,577,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of AES by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 11,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $178,000 after buying an additional 3,338 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 6.3% in the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 92,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,402,000 after acquiring an additional 5,453 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 35.2% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 965 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in AES by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 9,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its position in AES by 47.7% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 117,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,779,000 after buying an additional 37,783 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AES Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE AES traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $17.21. 4,772,193 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,139,495. The stock has a market cap of $12.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.15 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The AES Co. has a one year low of $11.43 and a one year high of $23.81. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.77.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.36 billion. AES had a return on equity of 38.76% and a net margin of 2.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 209.10%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AES has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays dropped their target price on AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.13.

About AES

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.