Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 153,215 The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 153,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,972,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in AES during the third quarter worth $2,803,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in shares of AES by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 82,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,662,000 after purchasing an additional 5,605 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc lifted its holdings in AES by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 386,712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,775,000 after purchasing an additional 77,662 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR grew its stake in AES by 8.4% during the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 198,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,986,000 after buying an additional 15,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lmcg Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of AES by 0.6% during the third quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 650,509 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,049,000 after buying an additional 3,690 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $11.59 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $11.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.59. The stock has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a PE ratio of 8.05, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $9.88 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is 48.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. HSBC assumed coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America began coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho cut their price target on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.80.

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.