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

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $19.30.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AES. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock opened at $12.44 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $14.67 and a 200-day moving average of $16.94. The company has a market capitalization of $8.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.01. AES has a 1 year low of $12.24 and a 1 year high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that AES will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This is an increase from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is 48.61%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in AES in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in shares of AES during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of AES by 102.3% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AES in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its stake in AES by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

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.