Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Makes New Investment in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund acquired a new stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 45,300 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $583,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in AES during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in AES during the 3rd quarter worth $63,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in AES by 69.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,688 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509 shares in the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp acquired a new position in AES during the 4th quarter worth $95,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in AES during the 4th quarter worth $95,000. 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 several analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America initiated coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, AES currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $18.80.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock traded up $1.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $11.59. 71,503,942 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,878,539. 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 AES Co. has a 52 week low of $9.88 and a 52 week high of $22.21. The business has a 50-day moving average of $11.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.24 billion, a PE ratio of 8.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.08%. AES's payout ratio is presently 48.61%.

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.