The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Purchased by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems grew its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 5.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 53,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,699 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in AES were worth $941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC increased its position in AES by 92.4% during the second quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of AES by 102.3% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in AES in the first quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in AES during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $18.90 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $17.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.25 and a beta of 1.07. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $11.43 and a 12 month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. AES had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. The firm had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.21 earnings per share. AES’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 95.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AES. Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.50.

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.