The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Purchased by Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 17.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 303,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,122 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in AES were worth $3,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in AES in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in AES by 190.3% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 93.3% during the 4th quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in AES by 18,047.1% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 6,136 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $12.32 on Friday. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $9.88 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of $11.23 and a 200 day moving average of $14.12. 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 company has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The firm 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 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AES shares. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Mizuho cut their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. 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 report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays cut their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.30.

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.