Weiss Asset Management LP Makes New $1.02 Million Investment in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 50,783 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,019,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new position in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in AES in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its stake 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 during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in AES by 102.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in AES in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES stock traded up $0.55 during trading on Monday, reaching $13.61. 18,017,190 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,196,266. 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 AES Co. has a 1-year low of $12.53 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The company has a market cap of $9.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.06, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.02. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $15.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.35.

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

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from AES's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AES has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho reduced their price target on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Finally, Susquehanna cut their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $20.22.

AES 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.