AES (NYSE:AES) Hits New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $11.48 and last traded at $11.56, with a volume of 1212967 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $11.75.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.30.

AES Trading Up 3.5 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.75. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a PE ratio of 8.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.00.

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

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.11%. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.92%.

Institutional Trading of AES

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rock Point Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of AES by 34.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 760,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,261,000 after acquiring an additional 195,460 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in AES by 5,143.7% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 75,509 shares in the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in AES during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,375,000. M&G PLC increased its position in AES by 12.7% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,235,000 after buying an additional 732,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of AES by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 406,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,231,000 after buying an additional 43,792 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.