The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Stock Holdings Increased by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 41.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,898,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 844,888 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned approximately 0.41% of AES worth $51,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of AES by 161.8% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 107,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after buying an additional 66,145 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 124,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,237,000 after acquiring an additional 2,273 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 735.2% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 617,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,070,000 after acquiring an additional 543,464 shares during the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in AES in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,235,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in AES by 20.1% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 839,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,049,000 after acquiring an additional 140,610 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AES has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.50.

AES Price Performance

NYSE AES opened at $18.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $13.43 billion, a PE ratio of 26.25 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $17.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.01.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.21 EPS. On average, analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors 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 3.65%. AES’s payout ratio is 95.83%.

AES 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.