Trexquant Investment LP Increases Stock Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Trexquant Investment LP raised its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 67.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,416,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 571,947 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned 0.20% of AES worth $18,233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 67.1% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,273,000 after buying an additional 133,308 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position 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 in the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd bought a new position in shares of AES during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $489,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,375,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in AES by 47.1% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $946,000 after buying an additional 23,764 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

AES stock opened at $12.36 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.80 billion, a PE ratio of 8.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. 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 $9.88 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $11.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.72.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. Analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.69%. AES’s payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AES shares. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Bank of America raised AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AES currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.63.

About AES

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.