North Star Asset Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

North Star Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,389,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,265 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $24,414,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in AES by 76.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 71,348,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,373,460,000 after purchasing an additional 31,009,718 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of AES by 11.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 77,641,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,392,110,000 after buying an additional 7,969,594 shares during the period. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in AES in the first quarter valued at approximately $123,272,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in AES by 70.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,441,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,008,000 after acquiring an additional 2,670,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AES by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,725,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,608,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,929,523 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho raised their price target on AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Barclays reduced their target price on AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.71.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $16.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.97. The AES Co. has a one year low of $11.43 and a one year high of $22.21. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50 and a beta of 1.08.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. AES had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. On average, analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.26%. AES’s payout ratio is currently 95.83%.

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.