The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Stock Position Decreased by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp trimmed its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 32.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 25,289 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in AES were worth $670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AES shares. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective on the stock. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Finally, Susquehanna dropped 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.80.

AES Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $11.16 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.75, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.54. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $10.81 and a twelve month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. AES’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.176 dividend. This is an increase from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.61%.

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.