Balentine LLC Makes New Investment in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Balentine LLC acquired a new position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 25,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $492,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AES. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 96,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 4,378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of AES by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. now owns 7,008 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 806 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of AES by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 52,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $800,000 after buying an additional 1,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in shares of AES by 68.8% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 1,088 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $21.02 on Wednesday. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $11.43 and a 12 month high of $22.60. The stock has a market cap of $14.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.22 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $17.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

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

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st were issued a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 95.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AES. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AES presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.50.

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.