Kentucky Retirement Systems Decreases Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lessened its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,026 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in AES were worth $994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CWM LLC boosted its position in AES by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 27,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 628 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its stake in AES by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 44,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,000 after acquiring an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC raised its stake in AES by 92.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in AES by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 826 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Price Performance

AES stock opened at $13.74 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $9.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.54 and a beta of 1.10. The AES Co. has a 52 week low of $13.27 and a 52 week high of $22.21. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $17.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. AES’s payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on AES. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AES currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.38.

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.