Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Boosts Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 27.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,030,356 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 434,356 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $26,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in AES by 47.1% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 23,764 shares in the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY raised its position in shares of AES by 32.8% in the 4th quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 38,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $495,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 93,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,206,000 after purchasing an additional 3,049 shares in the last quarter. River Street Advisors LLC grew its stake in AES by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 23,078 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 4,838 shares during the period. Finally, Tritonpoint Wealth LLC lifted its position in AES by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC now owns 306,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,950,000 after buying an additional 48,287 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC began coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America initiated coverage on AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.80.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $10.23 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $12.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.11. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $10.00 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The company has a market cap of $7.27 billion, a PE ratio of 7.10, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.99.

AES Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.88%. AES’s payout ratio is currently 48.61%.

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.