Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Has $492,000 Stock Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in AES were worth $492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AES. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its stake in AES by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in AES by 69.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toth Financial Advisory Corp acquired a new position in AES in the 4th quarter valued at about $95,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AES has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. HSBC started coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.80.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $10.28 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $11.88 and a 200-day moving average of $14.85. The company has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a PE ratio of 7.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.99. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $9.88 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.85%. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.61%.

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.