Stevens Capital Management LP Sells 30,520 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Stevens Capital Management LP lessened its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 31.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 30,520 shares during the quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in AES were worth $1,292,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AES. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of AES by 38.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,821,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $559,689,000 after acquiring an additional 10,256,781 shares during the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in AES by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,060,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $122,513,000 after purchasing an additional 686,719 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of AES by 24.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,611,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $115,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484,052 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 0.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,108,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,846,000 after purchasing an additional 29,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in AES by 2.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,728,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $87,070,000 after buying an additional 140,149 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AES traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $17.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,772,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,244,643. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.15 and a beta of 1.08. The AES Co. has a one year low of $11.43 and a one year high of $23.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42.

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

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. AES’s payout ratio is currently 209.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AES shares. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of AES in a report on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. 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. Finally, Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.13.

AES 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.