The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES – Get Rating) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 805,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 26,148 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $23,174,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 115.3% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087 shares in the last quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of AES in the fourth quarter worth $383,000. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its stake in shares of AES by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 289,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,330,000 after acquiring an additional 3,690 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 801,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,030,000 after acquiring an additional 34,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC acquired a new position in shares of AES during the fourth quarter worth $234,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of AES from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 9th. TheStreet downgraded shares of AES from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Monday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of AES from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.30.

AES Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $20.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.23, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $13.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.94. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $18.62 and a 1-year high of $29.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $23.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.75.

AES (NYSE:AES – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.02). AES had a negative net margin of 3.59% and a positive return on equity of 38.46%. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.1659 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 28th. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently -80.49%.

About AES

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The AES Corp. engages in the provision of power generation and utility services through its renewable and thermal generation facilities and distribution businesses. It operates through the following segments: U.S. and Utilities Strategic Business Unit (SBU), South America SBU, MCAC SBU, Eurasia SBU. The U.S.