Vontobel Holding Ltd. Sells 12,642 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 267,676 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 12,642 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in AES were worth $3,445,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in AES in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its holdings in AES by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in AES in the 3rd quarter valued at $63,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in AES by 69.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,509 shares during the period. Finally, Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new stake in AES in the 4th quarter valued at $95,000. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $9.95 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.90 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The company has a market cap of $7.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.95.

AES Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. HSBC started coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.80.

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.