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

Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.13.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AES shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, March 25th.

AES Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $18.17 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.92. The stock has a market cap of $12.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.05 and a beta of 1.08. AES has a 12-month low of $11.43 and a 12-month high of $23.16.

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

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. AES’s payout ratio is 209.10%.

Institutional Trading of AES

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AES. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its position in AES by 0.7% during the third quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 96,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 665 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 4,378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. grew its holdings in AES by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. now owns 7,008 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 806 shares during the period. River Street Advisors LLC increased its position in AES by 7.1% during the third quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 12,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $191,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in AES by 2.0% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 52,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.