23,760 Shares in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Bought by Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc.

Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 23,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $417,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AES. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in shares of AES by 161.8% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 107,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after purchasing an additional 66,145 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of AES by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 124,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,237,000 after acquiring an additional 2,273 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 735.2% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 617,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,070,000 after acquiring an additional 543,464 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in AES in the first quarter worth $1,235,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AES by 20.1% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 839,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,049,000 after purchasing an additional 140,610 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AES shares. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Barclays reduced 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.50.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $18.90 on Monday. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.04. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $11.43 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The company has a market capitalization of $13.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.25 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. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.21 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a $0.1725 dividend. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 95.83%.

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.