HighTower Advisors LLC Grows Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 53.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,596,850 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 553,311 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.22% of AES worth $32,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of AES in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in AES by 102.3% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of AES in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 59.1% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC grew its stake in AES by 183.8% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 3,023 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 1,958 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AES traded down $0.24 during trading on Friday, reaching $13.05. The company had a trading volume of 8,687,040 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,158,891. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.28 billion, a PE ratio of 9.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.01. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $12.53 and a twelve month high of $22.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $15.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.46.

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

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.40%. This is a positive change from AES's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $20.22.

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.