Carret Asset Management LLC Acquires 10,791 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Carret Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 88,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,791 shares during the period. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $1,708,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC grew its position in AES by 38.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,821,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $559,689,000 after purchasing an additional 10,256,781 shares in the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of AES by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,060,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $122,513,000 after acquiring an additional 686,719 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of AES by 24.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,611,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $115,692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,484,052 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of AES by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,108,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,846,000 after acquiring an additional 29,488 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of AES by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,728,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $87,070,000 after acquiring an additional 140,149 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES stock traded up $0.24 on Wednesday, reaching $17.37. 4,538,534 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,336,432. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $16.49 and its 200-day moving average is $16.76. The AES Co. has a one year low of $11.43 and a one year high of $24.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $12.35 billion, a PE ratio of 52.64 and a beta of 1.08.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.36 billion. AES had a net margin of 2.12% and a return on equity of 38.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 209.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AES. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.13.

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.