Retirement Solution LLC Invests $1.38 Million in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Retirement Solution LLC bought a new position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 107,404 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,382,000. AES comprises approximately 0.4% of Retirement Solution LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its stake in AES by 18.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $775,354,000 after purchasing an additional 5,960,546 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in AES during the fourth quarter worth about $33,964,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in AES by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,838,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,000,000 after purchasing an additional 892,500 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP purchased a new position in AES during the 3rd quarter valued at about $17,390,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 53.0% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,596,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,031,000 after buying an additional 553,311 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $11.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.98 billion, a PE ratio of 7.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The AES Co. has a one year low of $9.88 and a one year high of $22.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $11.32 and a 200-day moving average of $14.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AES shares. Susquehanna cut their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, HSBC started coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AES has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.30.

About AES

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.