The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Qsemble Capital Management LP

Qsemble Capital Management LP lowered its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 84.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 144,978 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP’s holdings in AES were worth $457,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AES. CWM LLC lifted its position in AES by 2.4% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 27,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in AES by 1.6% in the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 44,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 4.7% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 18,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised 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 valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 898 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $18.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.18 billion, a PE ratio of 25.75 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.97.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. AES’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 95.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AES. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AES currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.50.

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.