The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Coldstream Capital Management Inc.

Coldstream Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 8.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,111 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,963 shares during the quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of AES by 18.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $775,354,000 after purchasing an additional 5,960,546 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $330,125,000 after buying an additional 181,975 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AES by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,694,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $134,286,000 after acquiring an additional 82,956 shares during the last quarter. M&G PLC raised its position in shares of AES by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,235,000 after acquiring an additional 732,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in AES by 3.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,769,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,805,000 after purchasing an additional 141,565 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AES. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Susquehanna decreased their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.30.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $13.35 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.12. The stock has a market cap of $9.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results 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. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is an increase from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

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.