Swiss National Bank Trims Stock Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Swiss National Bank cut its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,008,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 96,200 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in AES were worth $25,848,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. State Street Corp raised its stake in AES by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,354,000 after acquiring an additional 5,960,546 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AES during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,964,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of AES by 30.3% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,838,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,000,000 after buying an additional 892,500 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP purchased a new position in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $17,390,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of AES by 53.0% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,596,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,031,000 after buying an additional 553,311 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $13.05 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $11.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.06. The stock has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The AES Co. has a one year low of $9.88 and a one year high of $22.21.

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. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 firm earned $0.73 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.39%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Susquehanna cut their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. HSBC started coverage on AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.30.

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.