Aquatic Capital Management LLC Purchases 624,245 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Aquatic Capital Management LLC increased its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 242.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 881,345 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 624,245 shares during the quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC owned 0.12% of AES worth $11,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in AES by 190.3% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC boosted its position in AES by 93.3% during the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in AES by 601.5% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 5,745 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 4,926 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in AES by 18,047.1% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 6,136 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in AES by 95.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,295 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 3,080 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AES traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $10.38. 13,871,368 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,536,256. The AES Co. has a 52 week low of $9.57 and a 52 week high of $22.21. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $7.39 billion, a PE ratio of 7.21, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The company's 50 day moving average price is $11.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.49.

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

AES Announces Dividend

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 $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AES shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $10.00 price objective (down from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $13.71.

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.