The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 33.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 968,776 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 478,043 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.14% of AES worth $12,467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AES. Wedbush Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AES in the 4th quarter valued at about $190,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of AES in the fourth quarter worth $2,602,000. Trexquant Investment LP lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 67.7% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 1,416,727 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $18,233,000 after acquiring an additional 571,947 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in AES by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,895,678 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $216,862,000 after purchasing an additional 381,761 shares during the period. Finally, Cannell & Spears LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AES in the fourth quarter worth about $322,000. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $10.00 price target (down previously from $15.00) on shares of AES in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Mizuho dropped their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $13.67.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock traded down $0.03 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $10.25. 2,206,515 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,165,439. The AES Co. has a 52 week low of $9.88 and a 52 week high of $22.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $11.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.09. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The company 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 previous year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES's payout ratio is 29.54%.

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.