AES (NYSE:AES) Upgraded by Evercore ISI to “Strong-Buy”

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AES (NYSE:AES) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Wednesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a buy rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of AES from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AES has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $21.50.

AES Stock Down 1.9 %

AES stock opened at $18.90 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.43 billion, a PE ratio of 26.25 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63. AES has a 52 week low of $11.43 and a 52 week high of $22.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $17.40 and a 200 day moving average of $17.99.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. AES had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. The firm had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that AES will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a $0.1725 dividend. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 95.83%.

Institutional Trading of AES

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AES. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of AES by 2.4% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 27,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in AES by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 44,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after buying an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AES by 92.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 720 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in shares of AES by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 18,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of AES by 102.3% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

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.