Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Invests $139,000 in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,921 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $139,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AES. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in AES in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 102.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of AES during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its holdings in AES by 59.1% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AES. Mizuho dropped their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC started coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.30.

AES Stock Down 0.5 %

AES stock opened at $12.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.64, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $12.24 and a twelve month high of $22.21. The company’s 50 day moving average is $14.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.94.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. AES’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. Research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This is a positive change from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.66%. AES’s payout ratio is 48.61%.

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.