AES (NYSE:AES) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) gapped up prior to trading on Friday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $10.38, but opened at $11.05. AES shares last traded at $11.18, with a volume of 3,256,144 shares trading hands.

The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 EPS.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.08%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Susquehanna dropped their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.80.

Institutional Trading of AES

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new stake in AES in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of AES by 190.3% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its stake in AES by 79.5% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its holdings in AES by 93.3% in the 4th quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in AES by 760.4% during the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 2,958 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Trading Up 11.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock 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’s 50 day moving average is $11.51 and its 200 day moving average is $14.53.

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.