Gould Capital LLC Acquires New Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Gould Capital LLC acquired a new stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 169,577 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,402,000. AES makes up 2.2% of Gould Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in AES by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 27,122 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its stake in AES by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its holdings in shares of AES by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 44,433 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $781,000 after acquiring an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,301 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $528,000 after acquiring an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 8.0% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,179 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

AES Trading Up 0.4 %

AES stock traded up $0.05 on Tuesday, reaching $13.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,347,887 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,213,730. The firm has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.30. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $12.53 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from AES's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AES shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AES currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $20.22.

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.