Brendel Financial Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Brendel Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 94,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,813,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AES. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new stake in AES during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Gyon Technologies Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in AES during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AES during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in AES by 5,681.8% during the 4th quarter. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 1,272 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in AES by 3,172.5% during the 4th quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AES. UBS Group cut their price target on AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AES has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.13.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $16.40. The company had a trading volume of 7,100,682 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,671,630. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42. The AES Co. has a 52 week low of $11.43 and a 52 week high of $24.33. The company has a 50 day moving average of $16.47 and a 200-day moving average of $16.68. The firm has a market cap of $11.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.70 and a beta of 1.08.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.36 billion. AES had a net margin of 2.12% and a return on equity of 38.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 209.10%.

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.