AES (NYSE:AES) Price Target Cut to $21.00 by Analysts at Susquehanna

AES (NYSE:AES) had its price target reduced by Susquehanna from $24.00 to $21.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “positive” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Susquehanna’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 40.85% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.38.

AES Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of AES stock traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $14.91. 1,349,414 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,290,180. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $17.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. AES has a 52-week low of $14.68 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The stock has a market cap of $10.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.36 and a beta of 1.10.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. AES’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of AES

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 92.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in AES in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised 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 acquiring an additional 898 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in AES during the second quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is 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.