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

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $22.38.

AES has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays raised their price target on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Susquehanna lowered their price target on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES opened at $13.97 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.70 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. AES has a 52-week low of $13.27 and a 52-week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.94%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AES. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $330,125,000 after purchasing an additional 181,975 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of AES by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 37,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $746,000 after purchasing an additional 3,151 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of AES by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 220,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,433,000 after purchasing an additional 20,545 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in shares of AES by 229.8% in the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 85,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 59,513 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 87.1% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 136,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,735,000 after purchasing an additional 63,457 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.