Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 19.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,020 shares during the quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $160,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in AES in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in AES by 190.3% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC raised its position in AES by 93.3% in the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of AES in the third quarter worth $63,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 18,047.1% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 6,136 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES opened at $11.79 on Tuesday. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $9.88 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The stock has a market cap of $8.38 billion, a PE ratio of 8.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $11.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.29.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.97%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.