Sagefield Capital LP Buys 234,473 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Sagefield Capital LP lifted its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 82.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 518,944 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 234,473 shares during the period. AES comprises about 1.0% of Sagefield Capital LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Sagefield Capital LP owned 0.07% of AES worth $9,118,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in AES by 92.4% during the second quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of AES during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of AES by 102.3% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in AES in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in AES during the second quarter worth $33,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

AES stock traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $19.10. The company had a trading volume of 9,284,311 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,191,253. The company has a market capitalization of $13.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.67 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $11.43 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $17.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.06.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.21 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. AES's dividend payout ratio is currently 95.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AES shares. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AES has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $21.50.

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.