The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Crestline Management LP

Crestline Management LP trimmed its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 72.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 50,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 134,235 shares during the quarter. Crestline Management LP’s holdings in AES were worth $644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its position in AES by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $632,865,000 after acquiring an additional 8,027,426 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in AES by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $367,499,000 after purchasing an additional 7,519,129 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in AES by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,948,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,261,000 after buying an additional 6,238,087 shares in the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT purchased a new position in AES in the 4th quarter valued at about $69,083,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AES during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,964,000. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Price Performance

NYSE AES opened at $11.14 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $11.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.14. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.57 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a PE ratio of 7.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is currently 38.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down previously from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America raised AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.71.

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.