Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. Makes New Investment in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. purchased a new position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 10,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $129,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AES. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in shares of AES in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its stake in AES by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in AES during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt purchased a new stake in AES during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in AES by 69.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AES has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. HSBC initiated coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho lowered their price target on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lowered their price target on AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.30.

AES Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $11.76 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of 8.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.00. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $11.57 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is an increase from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.99%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.61%.

AES 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.