The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Receives $18.80 Average PT from Brokerages

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.80.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America started coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho decreased their target price on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th.

Institutional Trading of AES

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the 4th quarter worth approximately $121,627,000. FMR LLC increased its position in AES by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $632,865,000 after buying an additional 8,027,426 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of AES by 35.7% in the fourth 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. lifted its position 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 last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake 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 worth $775,354,000 after acquiring an additional 5,960,546 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Price Performance

AES stock opened at $11.59 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.05, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. 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 $9.88 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $11.54 and its 200-day moving average is $14.59.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 business earned $0.73 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.08%. AES’s payout ratio is currently 48.61%.

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.