Allstate Corp Invests $268,000 in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 20,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Stephens Inc. AR raised its holdings in AES by 67.1% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,273,000 after buying an additional 133,308 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 5,143.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 75,509 shares in the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AES during the fourth quarter worth approximately $489,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in AES in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,375,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in AES by 47.1% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 23,764 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AES Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of AES opened at $12.49 on Thursday. 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 cap of $8.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.67, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $11.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.71. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $9.88 and a 52-week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. Analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.63%. AES’s payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on AES shares. Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AES currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.63.

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.