Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Has $396,000 Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,758 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in AES were worth $396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AES. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of AES by 76.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 71,348,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,373,460,000 after acquiring an additional 31,009,718 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in AES by 11.4% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 77,641,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,392,110,000 after buying an additional 7,969,594 shares during the period. M&G Plc acquired a new position in AES in the first quarter valued at about $123,272,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in AES by 70.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,441,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,008,000 after buying an additional 2,670,001 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AES by 2.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,725,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,608,773,000 after buying an additional 1,929,523 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Performance

AES traded up $0.02 during trading on Monday, hitting $17.54. The stock had a trading volume of 2,141,707 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,078,079. The firm has a market cap of $12.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.33 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.81. The AES Co. has a one year low of $11.43 and a one year high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $3.09 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be issued a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 95.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AES. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Mizuho lifted their target price on AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Barclays dropped their target price on AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.75.

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.