GAMMA Investing LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 46.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,691 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in AES during the first quarter worth about $33,000. Glassman Wealth Services lifted its position in AES by 186.1% during the fourth quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 1,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,254 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in AES by 68.8% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 1,088 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AES in the 4th quarter valued at $57,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,779 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on AES shares. Barclays cut their price objective on AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.71.

AES Stock Down 4.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AES traded down $0.78 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $17.13. The company had a trading volume of 10,660,581 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,761,461. The AES Co. has a one year low of $11.43 and a one year high of $22.21. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $12.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.79 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $18.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.80.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 35.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st will be given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 95.83%.

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.