The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp cut its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 7.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,247 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,665 shares during the quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in AES were worth $1,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in AES during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new position in shares of AES during the third quarter worth $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in AES by 102.3% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in AES in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its position in AES by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AES. Barclays lowered their target price on AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America started coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.30.

AES Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $13.35 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $9.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.09. 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 52-week low of $12.53 and a 52-week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. AES’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Increases Dividend

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

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.