Sei Investments Co. Acquires 252,744 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Sei Investments Co. grew its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 350.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 324,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 252,744 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in AES were worth $4,181,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in AES during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in AES by 190.3% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,581 shares in the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its position in AES by 93.3% during the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,369 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in AES by 18,047.1% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 6,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 95.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,295 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 3,080 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on 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. Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. HSBC started coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna cut their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.63.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES opened at $12.49 on Thursday. The AES Co. has a 1 year low of $9.88 and a 1 year high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company’s fifty day moving average is $11.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.73 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.63%. AES’s payout ratio is 29.54%.

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.