American Century Companies Inc. Has $22.97 Million Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 16.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,784,619 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 246,046 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.25% of AES worth $22,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of AES by 18.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $775,354,000 after buying an additional 5,960,546 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of AES in the fourth quarter worth about $33,964,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in shares of AES by 30.3% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,838,500 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $77,000,000 after purchasing an additional 892,500 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 53.0% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,596,850 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,031,000 after purchasing an additional 553,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings 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 valued at $9,524,000 after purchasing an additional 520,725 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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AES Trading Down 4.9 %

AES traded down $0.62 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $11.87. The stock had a trading volume of 19,797,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,051,518. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $11.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $9.88 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.93%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES's payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays dropped their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, HSBC began coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $16.63.

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.