The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Purchased by AGF Management Ltd.

AGF Management Ltd. raised its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 202.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 57,019 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in AES were worth $1,097,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in AES by 18.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $775,354,000 after buying an additional 5,960,546 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the 4th quarter worth about $33,964,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of AES by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,838,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,000,000 after purchasing an additional 892,500 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP acquired a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter worth about $17,390,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in AES by 53.0% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,596,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,031,000 after purchasing an additional 553,311 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Price Performance

NYSE:AES opened at $12.32 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $11.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.18. The stock has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a PE ratio of 8.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. 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 AES Co. has a one year low of $9.88 and a one year high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly 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. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho reduced their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays cut 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. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.30.

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.