The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Sold by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. cut its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,901,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 196,917 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.27% of AES worth $38,151,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,725,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,608,773,000 after buying an additional 1,929,523 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of AES by 11.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 77,641,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,392,110,000 after purchasing an additional 7,969,594 shares during the last quarter. M&G PLC raised its position in shares of 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,769,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,805,000 after purchasing an additional 141,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in AES by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,132,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,084,000 after buying an additional 444,252 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on AES. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.38.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $13.97 on Friday. The AES Co. has a 1 year low of $13.27 and a 1 year high of $22.21. The firm has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.70 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $17.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. AES’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. AES’s payout ratio is 47.92%.

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.