Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Reduces Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund trimmed its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 8.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,049 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,873 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in AES were worth $422,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AES by 92.4% in the second quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 720 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of AES in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of AES by 102.3% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of AES in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of AES by 59.1% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AES. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.38.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock opened at $13.74 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.77 billion, a PE ratio of 9.54 and a beta of 1.10. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $13.27 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $0.1725 dividend. 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 5.02%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.92%.

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.