A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 16.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 195,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 27,050 shares during the quarter. AES makes up about 2.0% of A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $2,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AES. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in shares of AES during the third quarter worth $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in AES in the 2nd quarter valued at about $58,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of AES during the third quarter worth approximately $63,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new stake in shares of AES during the third quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of AES stock traded down $0.23 during trading on Friday, reaching $12.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,724,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,610,761. The AES Co. has a 1-year low of $12.05 and a 1-year high of $22.21. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.20. 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 company has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.00.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This is an increase from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. AES’s payout ratio is presently 48.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AES has been the topic of several research reports. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays decreased their price objective on AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.30.

AES Company 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.