Intech Investment Management LLC Increases Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 36.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 369,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 98,234 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $4,753,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in AES during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in AES by 190.3% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC boosted its position in AES by 93.3% during the 4th quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter worth $63,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 18,047.1% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 6,136 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

AES opened at $12.90 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $9.88 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $11.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.46%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AES has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, AES presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.30.

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.