The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Purchased by Ellsworth Advisors LLC

Ellsworth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 43.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,920 shares during the quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $1,268,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Rock Point Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 760,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,261,000 after purchasing an additional 195,460 shares during the period. Leibman Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AES in the fourth quarter worth about $2,375,000. M&G PLC increased its position in shares of AES by 12.7% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,235,000 after acquiring an additional 732,457 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of AES by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 406,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,231,000 after acquiring an additional 43,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in AES by 28.4% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 257,368 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,163,000 after purchasing an additional 56,879 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Stock Down 1.3 %

AES opened at $11.85 on Monday. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $11.57 and a twelve month high of $22.21. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $12.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.90. The firm has a market cap of $8.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.00.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted 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 the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. AES’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AES shares. HSBC initiated coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Barclays lowered their target price on AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America began coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.30.

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.