Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Buys Shares of 132,193 The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 132,193 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,593,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter worth about $63,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt acquired a new position in shares of AES in the third quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in AES by 69.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,688 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company's stock.

AES Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of AES stock traded down $0.44 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $11.01. 22,664,502 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,738,836. 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 business's 50 day simple moving average is $12.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.63. The company has a market capitalization of $7.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.00. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $10.81 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21.

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

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from AES's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.40%. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AES has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho reduced their price target on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC began coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $11.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AES presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $18.80.

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.