Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 26,902 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 803,971 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 26,902 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of AES worth $10,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AES. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in AES during the third quarter valued at about $63,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp purchased a new position in shares of AES in the 4th quarter worth about $95,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in shares of AES by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,472 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the 4th quarter worth about $129,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

AES Price Performance

AES stock traded down $0.26 on Tuesday, hitting $10.94. 11,594,371 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,976,970. 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 cap of $7.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $9.88 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $11.48 and a 200-day moving average of $14.47.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.44%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AES. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. HSBC began coverage on AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AES has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $18.90.

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.