Geode Capital Management LLC Acquires 181,975 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 181,975 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.32% of AES worth $330,125,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its position in AES by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 37,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $746,000 after buying an additional 3,151 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of AES by 10.3% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 220,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,433,000 after acquiring an additional 20,545 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its position in shares of AES by 229.8% in the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 85,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 59,513 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in AES by 87.1% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 136,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,735,000 after purchasing an additional 63,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in AES during the 3rd quarter valued at about $362,000. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Trading Down 1.3 %

AES opened at $13.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.01. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $12.53 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $14.99 and a 200 day moving average of $17.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This is a positive change from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. AES’s payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AES has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Mizuho reduced their price target on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Friday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.