First Financial Bankshares Inc Sells 30,578 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

First Financial Bankshares Inc decreased its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 153,715 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 30,578 shares during the period. First Financial Bankshares Inc’s holdings in AES were worth $1,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AES. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of AES by 18.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,354,000 after buying an additional 5,960,546 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in AES in the fourth quarter valued at $33,964,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in shares of AES by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,838,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,000,000 after acquiring an additional 892,500 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP acquired a new position in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter worth about $17,390,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in AES by 53.0% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,596,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,031,000 after purchasing an additional 553,311 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of AES opened at $12.90 on Wednesday. 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 $9.18 billion, a PE ratio of 8.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $11.23 and its 200-day moving average is $14.03. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $9.88 and a 12 month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.46%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AES. Mizuho lowered their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America upgraded AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays reduced their price objective 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. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, HSBC started coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. One research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.30.

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.