The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $24.33.

AES has been the subject of several research reports. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE AES opened at $12.19 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $11.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.92. AES has a 12-month low of $9.57 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The company has a market capitalization of $8.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st were paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.04%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in AES by 67.1% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,273,000 after purchasing an additional 133,308 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in AES by 5,143.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $991,000 after purchasing an additional 75,509 shares during the period. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd acquired a new stake in AES in the fourth quarter worth $489,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in AES in the fourth quarter worth $2,375,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in AES by 47.1% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 23,764 shares during the period. 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.