Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Acquires 11,034 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 5.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 200,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,034 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in AES were worth $3,523,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AES by 2.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,725,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,608,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,929,523 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in AES by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 77,641,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,392,110,000 after buying an additional 7,969,594 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in AES by 76.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 71,348,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,373,460,000 after acquiring an additional 31,009,718 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of AES during the 1st quarter worth approximately $123,272,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AES by 70.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,441,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,008,000 after purchasing an additional 2,670,001 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Stock Performance

AES opened at $17.13 on Friday. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $11.43 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The business has a 50 day moving average of $17.53 and a 200-day moving average of $17.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The stock has a market cap of $12.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.79 and a beta of 1.08.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 35.44%. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 95.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on AES. Barclays cut their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.71.

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.