American Trust Investment Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

American Trust Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 354,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,561,000. AES accounts for about 1.9% of American Trust Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AES. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of AES by 190.3% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its holdings in AES by 79.5% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 93.3% during the 4th quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of AES by 601.5% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 5,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 4,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 18,047.1% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 6,136 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $10.00 target price (down previously from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.71.

AES Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of AES opened at $10.19 on Friday. The AES Co. has a one year low of $9.57 and a one year high of $22.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.37. 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 company has a market capitalization of $7.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.91%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

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.