Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 153,215 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,972,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,179 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its stake in shares of AES by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 84,624 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares during the period. Live Oak Investment Partners boosted its position in AES by 3.9% during the third quarter. Live Oak Investment Partners now owns 29,241 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of AES by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 16,010 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 1,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AES by 3.5% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 34,067 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

AES stock traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $10.97. The company had a trading volume of 12,278,690 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,990,926. The AES Co. has a 1 year low of $9.88 and a 1 year high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $7.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $11.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.47.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AES shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays reduced their price target on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. HSBC started coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $18.90.

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.