Foundry Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Foundry Partners LLC trimmed its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 15.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 789,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 148,780 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $13,874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 1.9% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 124,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,237,000 after acquiring an additional 2,273 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 735.2% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 617,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,070,000 after purchasing an additional 543,464 shares during the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of AES during the 1st quarter worth $1,235,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 20.1% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 839,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,049,000 after buying an additional 140,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in AES by 178.5% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 689,879 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,369,000 after buying an additional 442,184 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $16.83. The stock had a trading volume of 835,404 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,958,433. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $11.43 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $17.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.96 billion, a PE ratio of 23.54 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. AES had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. The business had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. AES’s payout ratio is presently 95.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on AES. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.71.

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.