Weiss Asset Management LP Purchases New Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 50,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,019,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in shares of AES by 161.8% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 107,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after buying an additional 66,145 shares during the last quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 34.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 760,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,261,000 after acquiring an additional 195,460 shares during the last quarter. M&G PLC raised its holdings in shares of AES by 12.7% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,235,000 after purchasing an additional 732,457 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in AES by 28.4% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 257,368 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,163,000 after purchasing an additional 56,879 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in AES by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,694,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $134,286,000 after purchasing an additional 82,956 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $13.05 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.01. The AES Co. has a 1 year low of $12.53 and a 1 year high of $22.21. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $15.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

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

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.39%. This is an increase from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AES has been the topic of a number of research reports. Susquehanna dropped their price target on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays raised their target price on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.22.

AES Company 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.