Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 28,043 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 830,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 28,043 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $16,667,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of AES by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 62,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,117,000 after purchasing an additional 12,510 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in AES during the 1st quarter valued at about $72,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in AES by 99.7% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 64,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 32,272 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AES by 12.4% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 167,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,008,000 after purchasing an additional 18,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 1.9% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 699,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,537,000 after purchasing an additional 13,162 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES opened at $14.00 on Friday. The AES Co. has a one year low of $13.27 and a one year high of $22.21. The business has a fifty day moving average of $17.30 and a 200 day moving average of $18.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.72 and a beta of 1.10.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.93%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AES has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AES has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.38.

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.