The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Bought by Townsquare Capital LLC

Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 34.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 519,867 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 134,481 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $6,691,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in shares of AES by 67.1% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,273,000 after acquiring an additional 133,308 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in AES by 5,143.7% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 75,509 shares in the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd acquired a new position in AES during the 4th quarter worth approximately $489,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AES in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,375,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of AES by 47.1% in 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 buying an additional 23,764 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Susquehanna reduced 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. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $10.00 price target (down from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America upgraded AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AES currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.67.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $10.30 on Monday. 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 company has a market cap of $7.33 billion, a PE ratio of 7.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.18. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $9.88 and a 12 month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.