M&G Plc Makes New $123.27 Million Investment in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 6,848,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $123,272,000. M&G Plc owned 0.96% of AES at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AES. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of AES by 76.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 71,348,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,373,460,000 after buying an additional 31,009,718 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AES by 70.8% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,441,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,008,000 after buying an additional 2,670,001 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of AES by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 69,671,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,341,277,000 after buying an additional 2,537,128 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its position in shares of AES by 1,635.8% during the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,496,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,816,000 after buying an additional 1,410,689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of AES by 3,298.7% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 575,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,317,000 after buying an additional 558,465 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE AES traded up $0.02 on Friday, reaching $17.10. The stock had a trading volume of 4,641,917 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,025,707. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.78. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $11.43 and a 12-month high of $22.60. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $19.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.87. The stock has a market cap of $12.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.75 and a beta of 1.08.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.16. AES had a return on equity of 36.23% and a net margin of 4.40%. The company had revenue of $3.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 95.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AES shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on AES from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group lowered their price target on AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.88.

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.