Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Decreases Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 20.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,418,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,900,034 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in AES were worth $148,809,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in AES during the second quarter worth approximately $30,746,000. Zimmer Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of AES by 482.8% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,865,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,545,000 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in AES by 169.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,143,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,348,195 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of AES by 41.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,898,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,293,000 after buying an additional 844,888 shares during the period. Finally, TCW Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AES by 45.8% in the second quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 2,639,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,379,000 after acquiring an additional 828,840 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AES shares. Mizuho reduced their target price on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.38.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $13.04 on Friday. The AES Co. has a 52 week low of $12.97 and a 52 week high of $22.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $16.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.90. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $9.27 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06 and a beta of 1.10.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion during 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%. AES’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $0.1725 dividend. 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 5.29%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

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.