35,603 Shares in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Bought by Natixis

Natixis bought a new stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 35,603 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $458,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in AES by 32.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,301,147 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,350,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062,074 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of AES by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 471,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,062,000 after buying an additional 164,910 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AES by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 29,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 2,505 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in AES during the 4th quarter worth $4,809,000. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in AES by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC now owns 539,952 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,949,000 after purchasing an additional 76,221 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE AES opened at $10.12 on Friday. The AES Co. has a 1 year low of $9.57 and a 1 year high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $11.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.68. The firm has a market cap of $7.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.03, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business 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 last year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business 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 6.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Susquehanna lowered their price target 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 cut their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America raised 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 research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.71.

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.