The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Shares Bought by Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 37.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 213,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 57,874 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in AES were worth $4,104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 68.8% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 57.8% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 35.2% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 965 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of AES by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the fourth quarter worth $70,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho assumed coverage on AES in a report on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. Barclays cut their price objective on AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 14th. UBS Group cut their price objective on AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Argus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.13.

AES Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $16.70 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $11.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.61 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $16.47 and its 200-day moving average is $16.73. The AES Co. has a 52-week low of $11.43 and a 52-week high of $24.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.68.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.36 billion. AES had a return on equity of 38.76% and a net margin of 2.12%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a $0.1725 dividend. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 209.10%.

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.