Mutual Advisors LLC Buys 4,723 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Mutual Advisors LLC increased its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,723 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new position in AES during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its holdings in AES by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in AES during the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt purchased a new position in AES during the 3rd quarter valued at about $74,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in AES by 69.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. HSBC began coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America began coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho reduced their target price on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.30.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock opened at $11.61 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 company has a market capitalization of $8.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.06, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $12.77 and its 200 day moving average is $15.68. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $11.08 and a twelve month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.06%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is 47.92%.

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.