Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 93,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,692 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $1,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AES by 190.3% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 93.3% during the 4th quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 18,047.1% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 6,136 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES opened at $12.32 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $11.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.12. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $9.88 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The firm has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.55, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. Analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AES. Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. HSBC began coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. Barclays decreased their price target on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho decreased their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, AES presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.30.

AES Profile

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.