Brokerages Set The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) PT at $18.30

Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.56.

Several analysts recently weighed in on AES shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. HSBC started coverage on AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America raised AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

AES Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $12.67 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $11.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.02 billion, a PE ratio of 8.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. 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 has a 1 year low of $9.88 and a 1 year high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AES. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new stake in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in AES by 190.3% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,581 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its stake in AES by 79.5% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 93.3% during the 4th quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its holdings in shares of AES by 760.4% in the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 2,958 shares during the last quarter. 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.