The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.22.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new stake in AES during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in AES during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its position in AES by 59.1% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in AES by 102.3% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in AES during the second quarter worth about $33,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Stock Performance

AES opened at $13.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $15.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.20. AES has a 1 year low of $12.53 and a 1 year high of $22.21. The stock has a market cap of $9.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.01.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.20%. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is 48.61%.

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.