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

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. 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 traded.

The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.29%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America assumed coverage on AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price for 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 report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, HSBC initiated coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in AES by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $632,865,000 after buying an additional 8,027,426 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of AES by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,354,000 after acquiring an additional 5,960,546 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in AES by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $367,499,000 after acquiring an additional 7,519,129 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in AES by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,895,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $216,862,000 after purchasing an additional 381,761 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in AES by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,948,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,261,000 after purchasing an additional 6,238,087 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Trading Up 7.9 %

The company has a market capitalization of $7.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.59.

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.