The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Purchased by Flputnam Investment Management Co.

Flputnam Investment Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 93,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,767 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in AES were worth $1,204,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AES. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in AES by 8.0% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the period. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its holdings in AES by 1.0% during the third quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 84,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares during the period. Live Oak Investment Partners boosted its position in shares of AES by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Live Oak Investment Partners now owns 29,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of AES by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 16,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 1,110 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 34,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Trading Up 11.6 %

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $11.59 on Monday. The AES Co. has a one year low of $9.88 and a one year high of $22.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.24 billion, a PE ratio of 8.05, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $11.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.52.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted 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. 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 period last year, the business earned $0.73 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 6.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AES shares. HSBC started coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. Susquehanna decreased their price target on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America started coverage on AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. Mizuho decreased their price target on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.80.

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.