Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 1,575 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 222,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,575 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in AES were worth $2,864,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in AES by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 124,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,491,000 after acquiring an additional 3,700 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of AES by 33.2% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 512,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,284,000 after purchasing an additional 127,850 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in AES during the third quarter valued at $557,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in AES during the third quarter worth about $1,619,000. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter worth about $7,441,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $12.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The AES Co. has a one year low of $9.88 and a one year high of $22.21. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81.

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

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is 29.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AES shares. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho reduced their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America raised AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, HSBC assumed coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.63.

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.