The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co cut its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 26.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,100 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in AES were worth $546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AES. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in AES by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,725,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,608,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,929,523 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in AES by 11.4% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 77,641,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,392,110,000 after purchasing an additional 7,969,594 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in AES by 76.9% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in AES in the 1st quarter valued at about $123,272,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 70.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,441,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,008,000 after acquiring an additional 2,670,001 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $19.26 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $17.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $11.43 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The company has a market cap of $13.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.75 and a beta of 1.07.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. AES had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 95.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.50.

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.