The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Texas Permanent School Fund Corp

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp trimmed its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 14.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 117,762 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 19,680 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in AES were worth $2,069,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AES. Capital World Investors lifted its position in AES by 76.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 71,348,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,373,460,000 after buying an additional 31,009,718 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of AES by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 77,641,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,392,110,000 after acquiring an additional 7,969,594 shares during the period. M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of AES during the 1st quarter valued at about $123,272,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AES by 70.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,441,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,008,000 after purchasing an additional 2,670,001 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $19.24 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $17.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The AES Co. has a 1 year low of $11.43 and a 1 year high of $22.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.67 billion, a PE ratio of 26.72 and a beta of 1.07.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.21 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a $0.1725 dividend. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. AES’s payout ratio is presently 95.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AES shares. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.50.

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.