Viking Fund Management LLC Grows Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Viking Fund Management LLC grew its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 220,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,000 shares during the quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $2,831,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AES. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new position in AES during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $63,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of AES by 69.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new stake in AES during the third quarter worth $74,000. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America started coverage on AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. HSBC started coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AES currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.30.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $11.76 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $12.92 and a 200-day moving average of $15.81. The stock has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of 8.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.00. 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 AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $11.57 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This is a positive change from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. AES’s payout ratio is 48.61%.

AES 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.