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

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.90.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AES. Barclays decreased their price target on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho decreased their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. HSBC began coverage on AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America raised AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday.

AES Stock Down 3.4 %

AES stock opened at $10.82 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $7.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. AES has a fifty-two week low of $9.88 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $11.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.47.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. Analysts predict that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.51%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AES. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the 4th quarter valued at about $121,627,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of AES by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $632,865,000 after buying an additional 8,027,426 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AES by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $367,499,000 after buying an additional 7,519,129 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of AES by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,948,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,261,000 after buying an additional 6,238,087 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of AES by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,354,000 after buying an additional 5,960,546 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.