UMB Bank n.a. Raises Stock Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

by · The Markets Daily

UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES – Free Report) by 5,143.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 75,509 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in AES were worth $991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new position in AES in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of AES in the third quarter worth approximately $63,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in AES by 69.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new position in AES in the third quarter worth approximately $74,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AES shares. Bank of America assumed coverage on AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, HSBC started coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.30.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on AES

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $11.76 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $12.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.81. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $11.57 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.61%.

AES Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AES? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The AES Co. (NYSE:AES – Free Report).