Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc. Sells 1,456 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc. lessened its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,456 shares during the period. Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $744,000 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. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new stake in AES in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AES by 190.3% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares in the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 93.3% in 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 last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in AES during the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 6,136 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $12.67 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $9.88 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.55%. AES’s payout ratio is 29.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on AES. Barclays reduced their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. HSBC started coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.56.

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.