National Bank of Canada FI Reduces Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

National Bank of Canada FI lessened its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 459,682 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 38,626 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in AES were worth $5,916,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Rockland Trust Co. grew its holdings in AES by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 16,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 1,110 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in AES by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 34,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares in the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC raised its stake in AES by 93.3% in the 4th quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seed Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AES by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Seed Wealth Management Inc. now owns 14,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $189,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AES has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, HSBC assumed coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.29.

AES Price Performance

AES stock opened at $10.77 on Monday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $7.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.48, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $11.39 and a 200-day moving average of $13.56. 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 data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.54%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

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.