Viking Fund Management LLC Buys 12,000 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Viking Fund Management LLC increased its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 220,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,000 shares during the period. Viking Fund Management LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $2,831,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AES. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its stake in AES by 59.1% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in AES during the third quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new stake in AES during the third quarter worth $74,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 69.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Down 0.5 %

AES stock opened at $11.76 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $11.57 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.81. The company has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.00.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. AES’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. HSBC began coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of 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 issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.