New Century Financial Group LLC Has $1.19 Million Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

New Century Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 1.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 67,671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $1,189,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. CWM LLC raised its stake in AES by 2.4% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 27,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its holdings in AES by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 44,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after buying an additional 711 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AES by 92.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 18,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of AES by 102.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE:AES opened at $20.06 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $17.69 and its 200-day moving average is $18.20. The stock has a market cap of $14.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.86 and a beta of 1.07. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $11.43 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. AES’s payout ratio is 95.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays reduced their price objective on AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AES currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.50.

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.