Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 60,763 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,536 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $1,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in shares of AES by 68.8% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in AES by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,779 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 57.8% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional purchased a new position in shares of AES during the 4th quarter valued at about $70,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in AES by 35.2% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 965 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AES has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Mizuho initiated coverage on AES in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. Barclays reduced their price target on AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.13.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE:AES opened at $17.37 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.76. The stock has a market cap of $12.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.64 and a beta of 1.08. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $11.43 and a twelve month high of $24.08.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.36 billion. AES had a net margin of 2.12% and a return on equity of 38.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 209.09%.

AES 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.