Mizuho Initiates Coverage on AES (NYSE:AES)

Research analysts at Mizuho began coverage on shares of AES (NYSE:AES) in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Mizuho’s target price indicates a potential upside of 28.01% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AES. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.13.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock opened at $16.41 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.65. AES has a 1-year low of $11.43 and a 1-year high of $24.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $11.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.71 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new position in AES during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Gyon Technologies Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of AES in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AES in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 5,681.8% in the 4th quarter. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 1,272 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 3,172.5% in the 4th quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,269 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

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.