Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Acquires 23,764 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 47.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 74,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,764 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in AES were worth $946,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AES. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in AES by 5,143.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 75,509 shares in the last quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 34.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 760,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,261,000 after buying an additional 195,460 shares during the period. Leibman Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in AES in the fourth quarter valued at $2,375,000. M&G PLC raised its stake in AES by 12.7% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,235,000 after acquiring an additional 732,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 406,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,231,000 after acquiring an additional 43,792 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AES. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna reduced their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, HSBC started coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AES has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.80.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $10.23 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $10.00 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The firm has a market cap of $7.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.10, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $12.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.11.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.88%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.61%.

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.