Brokerages Set The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Target Price at $22.38

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.38.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AES. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $13.28 on Monday. AES has a one year low of $13.16 and a one year high of $22.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $17.06 and a 200-day moving average of $17.98. The company has a market capitalization of $9.44 billion, a PE ratio of 9.22 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.92%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 92.4% in the second quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 720 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of AES in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in shares of AES in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of AES by 102.3% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 898 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of AES in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.