South Dakota Investment Council Acquires 4,800 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

South Dakota Investment Council lifted its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 14.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 37,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,800 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in AES were worth $731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AES. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 11,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $178,000 after buying an additional 3,338 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AES by 6.3% in the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 92,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 5,453 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 35.2% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 965 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in AES by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,005,000 after buying an additional 9,436 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its holdings in AES by 47.7% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 117,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,779,000 after acquiring an additional 37,783 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their target price on AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AES presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.13.

AES Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $17.13 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.17 billion, a PE ratio of 51.90 and a beta of 1.08. The AES Co. has a 1 year low of $11.43 and a 1 year high of $23.81. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.06. AES had a return on equity of 38.76% and a net margin of 2.12%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.36 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. AES’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a $0.1725 dividend. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 209.10%.

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.