The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 19.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 105,952 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 25,117 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $1,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in AES by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 559,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,204,000 after acquiring an additional 111,910 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AES in the fourth quarter valued at $366,000. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AES in the fourth quarter valued at $489,000. Corrado Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Corrado Advisors LLC now owns 86,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 14,551 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AES in the fourth quarter valued at $1,972,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Down 3.5 %

NYSE:AES opened at $11.18 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.76, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $9.88 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $11.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.52.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is currently 48.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. HSBC assumed coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Barclays cut their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America assumed coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to 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.