SCP Investment LP Buys 110,800 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

SCP Investment LP increased its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 384.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 139,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 110,800 shares during the quarter. AES makes up 1.4% of SCP Investment LP’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. SCP Investment LP’s holdings in AES were worth $1,797,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AES. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of AES by 67.1% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,273,000 after buying an additional 133,308 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of AES by 5,143.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 75,509 shares during the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AES during the 4th quarter worth about $489,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in AES in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,375,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in AES by 47.1% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 23,764 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on AES. Mizuho decreased their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Susquehanna cut their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays lowered their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. HSBC initiated coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.63.

AES Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $12.42 on Friday. 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 52-week low of $9.88 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The company has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a PE ratio of 8.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average of $11.35 and a 200-day moving average of $13.83.

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. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.67%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

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.