WASHINGTON TRUST Co Acquires 14,813 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co increased its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 4.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 331,722 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,813 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in AES were worth $6,654,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 92.4% during the second quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in AES in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in AES by 102.3% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AES in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 59.1% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AES traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $16.55. The stock had a trading volume of 2,749,190 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,108,349. The company has a market cap of $11.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.97 and a beta of 1.07. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $14.67 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.21 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. AES’s payout ratio is 95.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AES has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.57.

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.