Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 381,761 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,895,678 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 381,761 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.38% of AES worth $216,862,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AES. Barclays cut their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. HSBC started coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AES presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $13.67.

AES Trading Down 8.1 %

NYSE AES traded down $0.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $10.24. 5,811,097 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,288,776. The AES Co. has a one year low of $9.88 and a one year high of $22.21. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.35. The stock has a market cap of $7.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.88%. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.54%.

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.