Bruni J V & Co. Co. Acquires 11,312 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Bruni J V & Co. Co. grew its stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,643,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,312 shares during the quarter. AES comprises about 3.9% of Bruni J V & Co. Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Bruni J V & Co. Co. owned 0.25% of AES worth $31,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 38.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,821,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $559,689,000 after purchasing an additional 10,256,781 shares during the period. CI Investments Inc. increased its holdings in AES by 18,505.6% during the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 2,030,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,862,000 after buying an additional 2,019,516 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of AES by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,611,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $115,692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,484,052 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of AES by 114.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,677,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,697,000 after acquiring an additional 1,426,662 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter worth $14,531,000. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Price Performance

NYSE AES traded up $0.08 on Friday, reaching $17.21. The company had a trading volume of 4,772,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,139,495. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.23 billion, a PE ratio of 52.15 and a beta of 1.08. The AES Co. has a 12 month low of $11.43 and a 12 month high of $23.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.80.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.06. AES had a return on equity of 38.76% and a net margin of 2.12%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. AES’s payout ratio is 209.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on AES shares. UBS Group cut their price target on AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Mizuho started coverage on AES in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Argus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.13.

About AES

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.