Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Purchases 59,513 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 229.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 85,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 59,513 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in AES were worth $1,713,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of AES by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 27,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of AES by 59.1% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in shares of AES by 1.6% in the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 44,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in AES by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 8.0% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AES has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays lifted their price target on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.22.

AES Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $13.65 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a PE ratio of 9.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.02. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $15.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.25. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $12.53 and a 52-week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This is an increase from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. AES’s payout ratio is currently 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.