Empyrean Capital Partners LP Takes Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Empyrean Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 3,755,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $48,327,000. AES comprises about 2.2% of Empyrean Capital Partners LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in shares of AES by 67.1% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,273,000 after purchasing an additional 133,308 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of AES by 5,143.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $991,000 after buying an additional 75,509 shares in the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AES in the 4th quarter worth $489,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AES in the fourth quarter worth $2,375,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 47.1% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Seaport Res Ptn lowered AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America upgraded AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down previously from $15.00) on shares of AES in a report on Thursday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.71.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $10.80 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $9.57 and a 1 year high of $22.21. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $11.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.18. The stock has a market cap of $7.69 billion, a PE ratio of 7.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. AES’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.52%. AES’s payout ratio is 38.04%.

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.