Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires 59,735 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,596,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 59,735 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.22% of AES worth $32,016,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of AES by 99.7% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 64,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 32,272 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 1.9% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 13,162 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in AES in the 1st quarter worth about $1,739,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in AES in the first quarter valued at about $1,268,000. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES opened at $13.97 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.09. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $13.27 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.70 and a beta of 1.10.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm’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 company earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.94%. AES’s payout ratio is presently 47.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AES shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, 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.