Virtu Financial LLC Takes Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 36,791 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $473,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in shares of AES during the third quarter valued at $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in AES by 190.3% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 93.3% in the 4th quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $63,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of AES by 18,047.1% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 6,136 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock traded down $0.02 on Friday, hitting $12.42. The stock had a trading volume of 11,081,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,994,778. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The business's 50 day moving average is $11.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.83. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $9.88 and a twelve month high of $22.21. The stock has a market cap of $8.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94.

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AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS 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 company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.67%. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AES shares. Seaport Res Ptn lowered AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, HSBC assumed coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES presently has a consensus 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.