Trexquant Investment LP Buys 571,947 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Trexquant Investment LP increased its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 67.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,416,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 571,947 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in AES were worth $18,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its stake in shares of AES by 67.1% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,273,000 after purchasing an additional 133,308 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in AES by 5,143.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 75,509 shares during the period. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd acquired a new stake in AES during the 4th quarter worth $489,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in AES in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,375,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of AES by 47.1% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 23,764 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $12.36 on Wednesday. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.88 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of $11.38 and a 200-day moving average of $13.72. The firm has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.59, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on AES. HSBC began coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America upgraded AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AES has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.63.

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.