Gabelli Funds LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Gabelli Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,680,600 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 27,000 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC owned 0.52% of AES worth $47,369,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $632,865,000 after purchasing an additional 8,027,426 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in AES by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,948,807 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $205,261,000 after buying an additional 6,238,087 shares during the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT purchased a new stake in AES in the fourth quarter valued at $69,083,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in AES during the fourth quarter worth about $33,964,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP lifted its holdings in AES by 67.7% in the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 1,416,727 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $18,233,000 after acquiring an additional 571,947 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AES shares. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays lowered their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $13.67.

AES Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of AES stock traded up $0.21 during trading on Friday, reaching $10.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,475,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,325,347. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $9.86 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $11.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $7.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) 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 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given 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 6.92%. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

AES 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.