20,814 Shares in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Acquired by Allstate Corp

Allstate Corp bought a new position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 20,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AES. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of AES by 190.3% in the fourth 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 last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC raised its stake in AES by 93.3% during the fourth 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. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 18,047.1% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 6,136 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in AES by 95.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,295 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 3,080 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $12.49 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $9.88 and a twelve month high of $22.21.

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, equities research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.63%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna decreased their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays reduced their target price 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 upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, HSBC initiated coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.63.

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.