The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Whittier Trust Co.

Whittier Trust Co. decreased its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 84.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 103,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 542,915 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in AES were worth $1,329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AES. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Mizuho reduced their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned 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.com, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.30.

AES Stock Down 0.7 %

AES stock opened at $13.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.07, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $9.88 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $11.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.99. 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 posted its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.39%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.54%.

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.