Victory Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 30.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,317,665 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 584,192 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.19% of AES worth $16,958,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 5,960,546 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in shares of AES by 30.3% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP acquired a new position in shares of AES during the third quarter worth $17,390,000. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in AES by 53.0% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,596,850 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,031,000 after buying an additional 553,311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,961,827 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $50,989,000 after buying an additional 439,493 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

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AES Stock Performance

AES traded up $0.47 during trading on Thursday, hitting $12.30. The stock had a trading volume of 16,774,413 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,121,738. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.54, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $9.88 and a twelve month high of $22.21. The company's 50-day moving average price is $11.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.72%. AES's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AES shares. Susquehanna cut their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research 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. Barclays dropped their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, HSBC started coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $18.30.

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.