Caprock Group LLC Invests $165,000 in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 12,794 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $165,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AES. Coastwise Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in AES during the fourth quarter worth approximately $146,000. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora boosted its position in shares of AES by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 86,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after acquiring an additional 1,924 shares during the period. Canal Insurance CO grew its stake in shares of AES by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Canal Insurance CO now owns 80,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 40,000 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in AES during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,593,000. Finally, PFG Investments LLC acquired a new position in AES in the fourth quarter valued at about $141,000. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna decreased their price target on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America began coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.80.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $10.55 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.29. The AES Co. has a one year low of $10.33 and a one year high of $22.21. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.32, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.99.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s payout ratio is 48.61%.

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.