The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Acquired by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 69.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,509 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $74,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter valued at about $329,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in AES by 3.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 67,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,363,000 after acquiring an additional 2,150 shares during the last quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in AES by 21.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 68,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,376,000 after acquiring an additional 12,155 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,724,000. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AES by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Stock Down 0.5 %

AES stock opened at $16.43 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.31. The company has a market capitalization of $11.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.82 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.97. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.67 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.94 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.21 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.20%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 95.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AES has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.57.

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.