AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Lowers Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd trimmed its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 33.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 53,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 26,479 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in AES were worth $689,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in AES by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,354,000 after buying an additional 5,960,546 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $330,125,000 after purchasing an additional 181,975 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AES by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,694,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $134,286,000 after purchasing an additional 82,956 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,235,000 after purchasing an additional 732,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 892,500 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $9.95 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $12.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.97. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $9.90 and a twelve month high of $22.21. The company has a market capitalization of $7.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.91, a PEG ratio of 0.84 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.

AES Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.08%. This is an increase from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on AES. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America assumed coverage on AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AES currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.