The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Stake Raised by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,879,259 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 185,020 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.97% of AES worth $88,536,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of AES by 190.3% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 93.3% in the 4th quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter valued at $63,000. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of AES by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 6,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Stock Up 4.8 %

AES opened at $11.79 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $11.32 and a 200-day moving average of $14.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $9.88 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The company has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a PE ratio of 8.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.73 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.97%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is 29.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. HSBC began coverage on AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AES currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.30.

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.