Kovack Advisors Inc. Invests $366,000 in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Kovack Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 28,467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $366,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AES. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter worth $63,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter worth $139,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in AES by 160.3% in the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $140,000 after acquiring an additional 4,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AES during the 4th quarter valued at about $95,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $11.59 on Friday. 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 twelve month low of $9.88 and a twelve month high of $22.21. The firm has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a PE ratio of 8.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $11.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.53.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

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 $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is 48.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AES shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America started coverage on AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.80.

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.