The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Raymond James & Associates

Raymond James & Associates trimmed its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 0.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,719,332 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,993 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in AES were worth $48,758,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of AES by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 143,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341 shares in the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in AES during the first quarter worth approximately $1,235,000. Norden Group LLC grew its position in AES by 2,244.3% in the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 362,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,504,000 after buying an additional 347,253 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AES by 12.5% in the first quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 2,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, InTrack Investment Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of AES during the 1st quarter worth $197,000. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of AES traded down $0.26 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $18.67. 11,127,623 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,577,789. The company has a market cap of $13.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $11.43 and a 12-month high of $23.07. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.97.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.06. AES had a net margin of 4.40% and a return on equity of 39.82%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 95.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective 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 reissued 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 reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.13.

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.