The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 20,070,000 shares, an increase of 14.8% from the May 31st total of 17,490,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 8,040,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AES. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of AES by 76.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 71,348,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,373,460,000 after purchasing an additional 31,009,718 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in AES by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 77,641,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,392,110,000 after buying an additional 7,969,594 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new position in AES during the 1st quarter worth about $123,272,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in AES by 70.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,441,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,008,000 after buying an additional 2,670,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AES by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,725,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,608,773,000 after buying an additional 1,929,523 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $17.61 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. AES has a 1-year low of $11.43 and a 1-year high of $22.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.40 and a beta of 1.09.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.16. AES had a net margin of 4.40% and a return on equity of 36.23%. The business had revenue of $3.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. AES’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AES will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AES. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.88.

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.