Westpac Banking Corp Lowers Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Westpac Banking Corp lowered its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 92.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 354,182 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in AES were worth $596,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. River Street Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 4.1% during the first quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 11,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 22.8% during the first quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of AES by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 3,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $101,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of AES by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 193,799 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,017,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of AES by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 50,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,222,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on AES. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on AES from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on AES from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. Susquehanna cut their target price on AES from $33.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. UBS Group lowered shares of AES from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $22.00 to $13.00 in a report on Thursday, October 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AES to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.13.

Insider Transactions at AES

In other news, COO Ricardo Manuel Falu bought 2,450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $16.30 per share, with a total value of $39,935.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 61,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,010,290.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Andres Gluski purchased 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $16.38 per share, with a total value of $819,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,526,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,003,234.62. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Ricardo Manuel Falu purchased 2,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.30 per share, for a total transaction of $39,935.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 61,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,010,290.30. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 57,039 shares of company stock valued at $934,195 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AES Trading Up 0.6 %

AES stock opened at $17.01 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.35. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $11.43 and a 52-week high of $29.89. The firm has a market cap of $11.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.33, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.07.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 1st were paid a dividend of $0.1659 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 31st. AES’s payout ratio is currently -75.00%.

AES Company Profile

The AES Corporation operates as a diversified power generation and utility company. It owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to customers, such as utilities, industrial users, and other intermediaries. The company also 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.