Mizuho Cuts AES (NYSE:AES) Price Target to $16.00

AES (NYSE:AES) had its price objective trimmed by Mizuho from $24.00 to $16.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on AES. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays upped their price objective on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.38.

AES Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of AES opened at $13.04 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $16.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06 and a beta of 1.10. AES has a 52 week low of $12.97 and a 52 week high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. On average, analysts predict that AES will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AES. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 720 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of AES during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new position in shares of AES during the third quarter worth about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in AES by 102.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in AES during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.