Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Acquires 2,057 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 70,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,057 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in AES were worth $901,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of AES by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,354,000 after acquiring an additional 5,960,546 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in AES by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $330,125,000 after purchasing an additional 181,975 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 1.3% in 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 buying an additional 82,956 shares during the last quarter. M&G PLC grew 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 valued at $130,235,000 after buying an additional 732,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in AES by 30.3% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,838,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,000,000 after acquiring an additional 892,500 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. HSBC began 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, Barclays decreased their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.80.

AES Trading Down 4.9 %

AES opened at $10.23 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 twelve month low of $10.00 and a twelve month high of $22.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.11.

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.88%. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.