Private Advisor Group LLC Lowers Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Private Advisor Group LLC cut its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 57.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,935 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 24,266 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $360,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC lifted its stake in AES by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 27,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in shares of AES by 1.6% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 92.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 18,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $15.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.30. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $14.68 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.03 billion, a PE ratio of 10.77 and a beta of 1.10.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.45%. AES’s payout ratio is 47.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AES shares. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.