OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Buys 5,569 Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora increased its stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 93,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,569 shares during the quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in AES were worth $1,808,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in AES by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 60,763 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,170,000 after acquiring an additional 3,536 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in AES by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 213,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,104,000 after acquiring an additional 57,874 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in AES during the fourth quarter valued at $280,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its position in shares of AES by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 40,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,000 after purchasing an additional 4,455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio increased its holdings in AES by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 1,195,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,003,000 after buying an additional 239,000 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Mizuho began coverage on AES in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.13.

AES Price Performance

NYSE AES traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $16.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,345,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,395,721. The company has a market capitalization of $11.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.49 and a beta of 1.08. The AES Co. has a 1 year low of $11.43 and a 1 year high of $24.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $16.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42.

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

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.21%. AES’s payout ratio is presently 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.