Federated Hermes Inc. Cuts Position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Federated Hermes Inc. lessened its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 95.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 90,219 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in AES were worth $61,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wedbush Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in AES during the 4th quarter worth about $190,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in AES during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,602,000. Trexquant Investment LP increased its holdings in AES by 67.7% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 1,416,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,233,000 after acquiring an additional 571,947 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in AES by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,895,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $216,862,000 after purchasing an additional 381,761 shares during the period. Finally, Cannell & Spears LLC purchased a new position in shares of AES during the 4th quarter valued at $322,000. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE AES opened at $10.17 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $11.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.89. The company has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The AES Co. has a fifty-two week low of $9.86 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is 29.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on AES. Barclays lowered their price target on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.67.

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.