Viking Fund Management LLC Raises Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Viking Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 178,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Viking Fund Management LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $3,192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. Wallace Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of AES by 17.0% during the first quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 20,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $387,000 after acquiring an additional 2,915 shares during the period. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of AES during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its stake in shares of AES by 6.9% in the first quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 186,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,348,000 after buying an additional 12,003 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its holdings in AES by 7.2% during the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 42,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $754,000 after acquiring an additional 2,809 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in AES in the first quarter valued at $211,000. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

AES traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $19.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,807,750 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,088,973. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $11.43 and a fifty-two week high of $22.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.60 billion, a PE ratio of 26.26 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $3.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. AES had a net margin of 4.40% and a return on equity of 36.23%. AES’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AES. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Mizuho lifted their price target on AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of AES from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AES currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.88.

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.