New Century Financial Group LLC Grows Stock Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

New Century Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 3.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,160 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $1,401,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of AES by 2.4% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 27,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 628 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its holdings in AES by 1.6% during the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 44,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 92.4% in the second quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in shares of AES by 4.7% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 18,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in AES by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 826 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays cut their target price on AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.43.

AES Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $17.47 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $17.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $13.55 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The company has a market cap of $12.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.26 and a beta of 1.07.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.21 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 95.83%.

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.