Clayton Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Clayton Partners LLC boosted its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 185,922 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,334 shares during the quarter. AES comprises approximately 1.7% of Clayton Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Clayton Partners LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $2,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of AES by 18.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $775,354,000 after acquiring an additional 5,960,546 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AES by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $330,125,000 after acquiring an additional 181,975 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AES by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,879,259 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $88,536,000 after acquiring an additional 185,020 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of AES by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,756,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,220,000 after acquiring an additional 249,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of AES by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,961,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,989,000 after acquiring an additional 439,493 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $12.32 on Friday. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $9.88 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The stock has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a PE ratio of 8.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $11.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.12.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AES. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AES has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.