Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 381,761 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,895,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 381,761 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.38% of AES worth $216,862,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AES. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 190.3% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,581 shares during the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its stake in AES by 93.3% in the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,369 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in shares of AES by 18,047.1% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 6,136 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AES by 95.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,295 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 3,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter valued at about $139,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AES has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. HSBC started coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.29.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $10.77 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.60. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $9.88 and a twelve month high of $22.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.73 EPS. Analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.54%. AES’s payout ratio is 29.54%.

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.