Lmcg Investments LLC Sells 131,534 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Lmcg Investments LLC lessened its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 20.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 518,975 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 131,534 shares during the period. Lmcg Investments LLC owned 0.07% of AES worth $6,679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AES. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in AES by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,066,251 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $18,734,000 after purchasing an additional 168,348 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in AES by 16.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,132,744 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $55,084,000 after purchasing an additional 444,252 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AES by 0.7% in the second quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 175,525 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,186 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in shares of AES by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 218,983 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,848,000 after buying an additional 38,326 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL purchased a new position in AES during the 2nd quarter valued at about $434,000. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AES shares. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna lowered their target price 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. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $19.30.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $11.76. 13,188,047 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,612,487. 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 company's 50-day moving average price is $12.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.81. The company has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.00. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $11.57 and a 52-week high of $22.21.

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

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This is a positive change from AES's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.99%. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.61%.

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.