Empowered Funds LLC Acquires 2,273 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,273 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $2,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 4,378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AES by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. now owns 7,008 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $135,000 after buying an additional 806 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 4.7% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 18,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $326,000 after buying an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in shares of AES by 68.8% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 1,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, River Street Advisors LLC raised its stake in AES by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 16,002 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 1,159 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $18.89 on Monday. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $11.43 and a 12 month high of $22.60. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $19.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The firm has a market cap of $13.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.24 and a beta of 1.08.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.16. AES had a net margin of 4.40% and a return on equity of 36.23%. The firm had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. AES’s payout ratio is presently 95.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on AES shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.88.

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.