AES (NYSE:AES) Now Covered by Jefferies Financial Group

Equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of AES (NYSE:AES) in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 10.34% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Seaport Res Ptn lowered AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.50.

AES Stock Up 1.5 %

AES stock opened at $18.13 on Wednesday. AES has a fifty-two week low of $11.43 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $17.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17 and a beta of 1.07.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Apollon Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in AES during the fourth quarter worth about $215,000. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. grew its holdings in AES by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. now owns 7,008 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 806 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in AES in the fourth quarter valued at $57,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of AES by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,559,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,273,000 after purchasing an additional 10,002 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AES by 26.1% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 146,117 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,813,000 after purchasing an additional 30,287 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.