Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Purchases 111,910 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 25.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 559,752 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 111,910 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.08% of AES worth $7,204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AES. Kovack Advisors Inc. bought a new position in AES during the fourth quarter worth $366,000. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd acquired a new stake in AES during the 4th quarter worth approximately $489,000. Corrado Advisors LLC grew its holdings in AES by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Corrado Advisors LLC now owns 86,721 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 14,551 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in AES during the 4th quarter worth $1,972,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,756,831 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $61,220,000 after buying an additional 249,486 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES stock traded down $0.23 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $10.97. 13,019,076 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,016,771. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $11.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.47. The company has a market cap of $7.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.62, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $9.88 and a 1-year high of $22.21.

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

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.42%. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AES has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AES has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $18.90.

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.