Community Trust & Investment Co. Boosts Stock Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Community Trust & Investment Co. raised its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 19.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 212,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,887 shares during the quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co.’s holdings in AES were worth $2,729,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in AES by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 58,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,033,000 after buying an additional 4,799 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in AES by 169.5% in the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 42,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $741,000 after purchasing an additional 26,543 shares during the period. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in AES in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $376,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in AES by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,353,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,787,000 after purchasing an additional 164,606 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of AES by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 132,689 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,331,000 after buying an additional 3,082 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AES. HSBC initiated coverage on AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.30.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE AES opened at $11.87 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $11.57 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The business has a fifty day moving average of $13.11 and a 200-day moving average of $16.02. The stock has a market cap of $8.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.00.

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

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. AES’s payout ratio is presently 48.61%.

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.