The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $13.67.

Several research firms recently weighed in on AES. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective (down previously from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Mizuho dropped 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, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES opened at $9.97 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. AES has a 12 month low of $9.86 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.92, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81.

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

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in AES by 190.3% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 1,581 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its position in shares of AES by 79.5% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC increased its stake in AES by 93.3% in the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,369 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC raised its position in AES by 200.6% during the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its stake in AES by 760.4% during the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 2,958 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

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.