Retirement Systems of Alabama Cuts Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 147,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,828 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in AES were worth $2,841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 96,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in AES by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 4,378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of AES by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 52,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in shares of AES by 68.8% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in AES by 2.5% in the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 51,858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,287 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:AES opened at $18.82 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The company has a market cap of $13.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14 and a beta of 1.08. The AES Co. has a twelve month low of $11.43 and a twelve month high of $23.07.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $3.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. AES had a net margin of 4.40% and a return on equity of 36.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. Analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 95.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Barclays reduced their price objective on AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Mizuho started coverage on AES in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.13.

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.