Sound Shore Management Inc. CT Buys New Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Sound Shore Management Inc. CT bought a new stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 5,367,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $69,083,000. AES accounts for approximately 2.3% of Sound Shore Management Inc. CT’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT owned about 0.75% of AES at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its stake in AES by 67.1% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,273,000 after purchasing an additional 133,308 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in AES by 5,143.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 75,509 shares during the period. Rock Point Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 760,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,261,000 after acquiring an additional 195,460 shares during the period. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AES in the 4th quarter worth approximately $489,000. Finally, Leibman Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AES in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,375,000. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE AES opened at $13.07 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $11.28 and a 200-day moving average of $13.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The AES Co. has a 52 week low of $9.88 and a 52 week high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.73 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.39%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AES. Barclays reduced their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America upgraded AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, HSBC initiated coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.30.

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.