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

Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.22.

AES has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company.

AES Price Performance

AES stock opened at $13.53 on Friday. AES has a 12 month low of $12.53 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $15.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.20. The stock has a market cap of $9.62 billion, a PE ratio of 9.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.01.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is an increase from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s payout ratio is currently 48.61%.

Institutional Trading of AES

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AES. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in AES during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in AES during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 102.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AES in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

About AES

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.