Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Has $573,000 Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,558 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,558 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $573,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new position in shares of AES during the third quarter worth about $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in AES by 190.3% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC raised its holdings in AES by 93.3% during the 4th quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $63,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 18,047.1% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 6,136 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE AES opened at $13.07 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.30 billion, a PE ratio of 9.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.97. The AES Co. has a 1 year low of $9.88 and a 1 year high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. Analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.39%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. HSBC started coverage on AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Seaport Res Ptn lowered AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.30.

About AES

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.