Holocene Advisors LP Invests $7.44 Million in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 370,915 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,441,000. Holocene Advisors LP owned approximately 0.05% of AES as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AES. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in shares of AES during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,746,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of AES by 169.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,143,688 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $43,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,348,195 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP purchased a new position in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter worth about $17,390,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 41.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,898,119 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $51,293,000 after purchasing an additional 844,888 shares during the period. Finally, TCW Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AES by 45.8% during the 2nd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 2,639,694 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $46,379,000 after purchasing an additional 828,840 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AES shares. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $20.22.

AES Price Performance

NYSE:AES traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $13.43. 24,644,022 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,140,989. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The stock's 50-day moving average is $15.87 and its 200-day moving average is $17.49. The firm has a market cap of $9.55 billion, a PE ratio of 9.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.01. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $12.53 and a twelve month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.14%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. AES's payout ratio is 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.