The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Capital Group Private Client Services Inc.

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 33.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 980,427 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 502,643 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of AES worth $12,618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of AES during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,809,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC now owns 539,952 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,949,000 after buying an additional 76,221 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AES by 169.3% during the 4th quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 1,271,550 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $16,365,000 after acquiring an additional 799,363 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of AES by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 3,680,600 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $47,369,000 after purchasing an additional 27,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its holdings in AES by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 416,260 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,357,000 after buying an additional 15,626 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $10.14. 10,413,398 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,384,285. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $11.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.76. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.57 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AES. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $10.00 price target (down from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America upgraded 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 research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Mizuho reduced their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AES presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $13.67.

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.