Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Sells 7,471 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lessened its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 9.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 67,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,471 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in AES were worth $872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in AES by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,895,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $216,862,000 after purchasing an additional 381,761 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AES by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,879,259 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $88,536,000 after acquiring an additional 185,020 shares during the period. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT acquired a new position in shares of AES during the 4th quarter worth approximately $69,083,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in AES by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,756,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,220,000 after acquiring an additional 249,486 shares during the period. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,961,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,989,000 after purchasing an additional 439,493 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Price Performance

AES stock opened at $10.23 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $11.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.42. The firm has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a PE ratio of 7.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The AES Co. has a one year low of $9.88 and a one year high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.88%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America raised AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays reduced their price target on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.29.

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.