Gould Capital LLC Takes Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Gould Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 169,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,402,000. AES makes up approximately 2.2% of Gould Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of AES by 18.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,354,000 after buying an additional 5,960,546 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AES by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $330,125,000 after acquiring an additional 181,975 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in AES by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,694,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $134,286,000 after purchasing an additional 82,956 shares during the last quarter. M&G PLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 732,457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 3.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,769,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,805,000 after purchasing an additional 141,565 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE AES opened at $13.61 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $15.47 and a 200 day moving average of $17.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $12.53 and a twelve month high of $22.21.

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

AES Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.17%. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AES shares. 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. Barclays raised their target price on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.