Prudential Financial Inc. Lowers Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Prudential Financial Inc. lessened its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 38.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,595,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,621,480 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $33,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AES. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. lifted its stake in AES by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 16,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 1,110 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 3.5% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 34,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $683,000 after buying an additional 1,141 shares in the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in AES during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Trading Down 1.6 %

AES opened at $12.67 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The AES Co. has a one year low of $9.88 and a one year high of $22.21. The company has a market cap of $9.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.80, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.90.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly 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. The company 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.55%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on AES shares. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. HSBC began coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. Bank of America raised AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays decreased their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AES presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.56.

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.