Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Cuts Stock Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. decreased its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 4.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 61,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,761 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in AES were worth $1,226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 720 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in AES in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in AES by 102.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of AES during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Stock Up 0.4 %

AES stock opened at $13.04 on Friday. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $12.53 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $16.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.10.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on AES shares. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.22.

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.