Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Buys 9,017 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 86,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,017 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $1,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AES. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AES by 92.4% during the second quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in AES in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in AES by 102.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 898 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in AES in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its holdings in AES by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

NYSE AES opened at $12.99 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a PE ratio of 9.02 and a beta of 1.10. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $16.47 and its 200 day moving average is $17.76. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $12.53 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.31%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays lifted their price objective on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Monday. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.22.

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.