HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 407,846 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 25.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,189,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 407,846 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.17% of AES worth $15,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its position in AES by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 55,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $713,000 after purchasing an additional 5,574 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. raised its position in AES by 202.3% during the 4th quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 85,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 57,019 shares during the last quarter. Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC bought a new position in AES during the 4th quarter worth $1,193,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in AES by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 93,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 6,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in AES by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 303,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,906,000 after purchasing an additional 46,122 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock opened at $12.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a PE ratio of 8.55, a P/E/G 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. The business has a 50 day moving average of $11.23 and a 200-day moving average of $14.12. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side 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 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 5.71%. AES’s payout ratio is 29.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AES shares. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna dropped 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. Bank of America raised AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AES has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.30.

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.