Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Grows Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 9.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,151 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in AES were worth $746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in AES by 161.8% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 107,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 66,145 shares in the last quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC grew its stake in AES by 34.6% in the third quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 760,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,261,000 after purchasing an additional 195,460 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC increased its holdings in AES by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,235,000 after purchasing an additional 732,457 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in AES by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 257,368 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,163,000 after purchasing an additional 56,879 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of AES by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,694,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $134,286,000 after buying an additional 82,956 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Trading Up 4.3 %

AES stock opened at $13.61 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $9.67 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $15.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.30. The AES Co. has a one year low of $12.53 and a one year high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. AES’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This is a positive change from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.17%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho lowered their target price on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.22.

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.