The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Acquired by Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 67,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,150 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in AES were worth $1,363,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AES by 2.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,725,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,608,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,929,523 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of AES by 11.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 77,641,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,392,110,000 after purchasing an additional 7,969,594 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the first quarter worth approximately $123,272,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of AES by 3.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,769,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,805,000 after purchasing an additional 141,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of AES by 16.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,132,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,084,000 after purchasing an additional 444,252 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Stock Down 1.2 %

AES stock opened at $17.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61 and a beta of 1.07. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $13.55 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $18.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.34.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. AES had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. AES’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.21 earnings per share. Analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. AES’s payout ratio is currently 95.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on AES. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.57.

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.