Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Buys 56,879 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Free Report) by 28.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 257,368 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 56,879 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank's holdings in AES were worth $5,163,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in AES in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. 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 worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in AES during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 59.1% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the period. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 183.8% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 3,023 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 1,958 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AES. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho reduced their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $20.22.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES traded up $0.04 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $13.05. The stock had a trading volume of 13,164,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,074,426. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.57. 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 AES Co. has a 52 week low of $12.53 and a 52 week high of $22.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.02.

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

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $0.1725 dividend. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

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.