The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Quadrature Capital Ltd

Quadrature Capital Ltd decreased its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 55.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 79,102 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 97,179 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd's holdings in AES were worth $1,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AES by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,694,239 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $134,286,000 after purchasing an additional 82,956 shares during the period. M&G PLC grew its stake in AES by 12.7% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $130,235,000 after buying an additional 732,457 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of AES by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,769,785 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $83,805,000 after acquiring an additional 141,565 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,522,334 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $70,658,000 after acquiring an additional 193,755 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in AES by 16.5% during the 2nd 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AES has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays upped their price target on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $11.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AES currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.22.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES traded down $0.24 on Friday, reaching $13.05. 8,687,536 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,073,056. The business's 50-day moving average is $15.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $12.53 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.01.

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

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.39%. This is a positive change from AES's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

AES 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.