Townsquare Capital LLC Increases Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 385,386 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 22,718 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $7,731,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC raised its position in AES by 2.4% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 27,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its holdings in AES by 59.1% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in AES by 1.6% in the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 44,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC grew its holdings in AES by 92.4% in the second quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the period. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in AES by 3.2% in the third quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE AES opened at $13.00 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $16.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.02 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $12.53 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.31%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on AES. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America started coverage on AES in a research note on Monday. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.22.

About AES

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.