Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Reduces Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 0.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,318,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 54,113 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 1.31% of AES worth $163,722,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AES by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,725,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,608,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,929,523 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of AES by 11.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 77,641,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,392,110,000 after acquiring an additional 7,969,594 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of AES by 76.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 71,348,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,373,460,000 after acquiring an additional 31,009,718 shares during the period. M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of AES in the 1st quarter worth approximately $123,272,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in AES by 70.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,441,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,008,000 after purchasing an additional 2,670,001 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Stock Up 1.2 %

AES stock opened at $19.24 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $17.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.72 and a beta of 1.07. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $11.43 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.97.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. AES’s payout ratio is currently 95.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.50.

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.