Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd Makes New Investment in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd bought a new position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 38,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $489,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of AES by 67.1% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,273,000 after buying an additional 133,308 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 5,143.7% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $991,000 after purchasing an additional 75,509 shares during the last quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC boosted its position in AES by 34.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 760,775 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $15,261,000 after purchasing an additional 195,460 shares during the period. Leibman Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in AES during the 4th quarter worth $2,375,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in AES by 47.1% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 23,764 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

NYSE AES traded up $1.21 on Friday, reaching $11.59. 71,503,942 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,878,539. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $9.88 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The company has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $11.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.53. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors 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 yield of 6.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC began coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. Barclays decreased their target price 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. Mizuho cut 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. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $18.80.

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.