Two Sigma Advisers LP Has $77 Million Stock Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 30.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,838,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 892,500 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP’s holdings in AES were worth $77,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in AES in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in AES in the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its holdings in AES by 59.1% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE AES opened at $13.05 on Friday. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $12.53 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average is $15.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.40. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. AES’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.40%. This is an increase from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s payout ratio is presently 47.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America started coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.