Quantbot Technologies LP Purchases 47,507 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 23.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 251,888 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 47,507 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP's holdings in AES were worth $3,242,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AES. West Tower Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AES during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $450,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 369,324 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,753,000 after buying an additional 98,234 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AES by 87.6% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 221,857 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,855,000 after acquiring an additional 103,601 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of AES by 237.5% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 739,995 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,524,000 after acquiring an additional 520,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp raised its holdings in shares of AES by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 112,178 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 15,698 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

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AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AES traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $12.45. 6,917,018 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,741,805. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.64, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company's 50-day moving average price is $11.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. 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 quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 5.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES's payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AES. HSBC assumed coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $16.63.

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.