National Bank of Canada FI Reduces Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

National Bank of Canada FI decreased its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 459,682 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 38,626 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 0.06% of AES worth $5,916,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of AES by 67.1% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,273,000 after buying an additional 133,308 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in AES by 5,143.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $991,000 after acquiring an additional 75,509 shares in the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of AES during the fourth quarter worth about $489,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AES during the fourth quarter worth about $2,375,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 23,764 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on AES shares. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna decreased 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. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. HSBC began coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.29.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE AES opened at $10.77 on Monday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $11.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.48, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.88 and a 12-month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.54%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

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.