The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Holdings Lifted by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 237.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 739,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 520,725 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.10% of AES worth $9,524,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in AES by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $775,354,000 after purchasing an additional 5,960,546 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in AES in the 4th quarter worth about $33,964,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in AES by 30.3% in 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. Bridgewater Associates LP purchased a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter worth about $17,390,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in AES by 53.0% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,596,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,031,000 after purchasing an additional 553,311 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $13.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $9.88 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.97.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AES shares. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America upgraded AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, HSBC initiated coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.