A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 16.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 195,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,050 shares during the quarter. AES comprises 2.0% of A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $2,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AES. State Street Corp grew its position in AES by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $775,354,000 after purchasing an additional 5,960,546 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $330,125,000 after acquiring an additional 181,975 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AES by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,694,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $134,286,000 after purchasing an additional 82,956 shares during the period. M&G PLC increased its holdings in shares of AES by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,235,000 after purchasing an additional 732,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in shares of AES by 30.3% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,838,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,000,000 after acquiring an additional 892,500 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Trading Down 1.9 %

AES stock traded down $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $12.17. 3,724,645 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,610,761. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.45, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.20. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $12.05 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.78%. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AES. Mizuho decreased their target price on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays dropped their price target on AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AES currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.30.

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.