Canal Insurance CO Grows Stock Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Canal Insurance CO grew its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 100.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 80,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,000 shares during the period. Canal Insurance CO’s holdings in AES were worth $1,030,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

AES Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $11.45 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.00. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $11.08 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.63. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AES has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America started coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. Susquehanna reduced their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. 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 stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.80.

AES Company 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.