Avenir Corp Cuts Stock Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Avenir Corp trimmed its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 774,228 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 44,687 shares during the quarter. AES accounts for about 1.0% of Avenir Corp's holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Avenir Corp owned about 0.11% of AES worth $9,964,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockland Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of AES by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 16,010 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 1,110 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 34,067 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $683,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141 shares during the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its position in AES by 93.3% in the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,369 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in AES by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,082 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seed Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in AES by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Seed Wealth Management Inc. now owns 14,665 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna dropped their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $10.00 price objective (down previously from $15.00) on shares of AES in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $13.67.

AES Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of AES traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $10.00. 2,823,486 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,098,342. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $7.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.94, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The business's 50-day moving average price is $11.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.78. The AES Co. has a 1 year low of $9.57 and a 1 year high of $22.21.

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

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES's payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

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.