Foundry Partners LLC Purchases 185,873 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Foundry Partners LLC grew its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 975,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 185,873 shares during the quarter. AES comprises approximately 1.0% of Foundry Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Foundry Partners LLC owned about 0.14% of AES worth $19,569,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AES. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of AES by 25.1% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 62,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,117,000 after buying an additional 12,510 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in AES during the 1st quarter worth about $189,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of AES by 672.0% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 63,662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 55,416 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AES by 28.1% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 10,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $188,000 after purchasing an additional 2,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 0.5% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 205,127 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Down 3.4 %

AES opened at $13.28 on Thursday. The AES Co. has a one year low of $13.16 and a one year high of $22.21. 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 capitalization of $9.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.22 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.98.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. AES’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a $0.1725 dividend. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. AES’s payout ratio is 47.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AES. Barclays raised their target price on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. 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 for the company. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.38.

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.