HighTower Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 25.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,189,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 407,846 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $15,302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the third quarter worth $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,581 shares in the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,369 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the third quarter worth $63,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 6,136 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $12.32 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $11.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.12. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.88 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.55, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.71%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company 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.