Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Raises Holdings in The AES Corporation $AES

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its stake in The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) by 108.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 22,453 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in AES were worth $537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its stake in shares of AES by 79.5% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 1,201 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AES in the first quarter worth about $35,000. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its position in AES by 200.6% during the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in AES during the first quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its position in AES by 760.4% during the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 2,958 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $13.1950 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.44. The AES Corporation has a 12 month low of $9.46 and a 12 month high of $20.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.29, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.12. AES had a return on equity of 19.02% and a net margin of 8.42%.The business had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded AES from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Susquehanna increased their price target on AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded AES from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, HSBC lowered their price target on AES from $15.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.67.

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.