AES (NYSE:AES) Reaches New 1-Year Low Following Analyst Downgrade

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Susquehanna lowered their price target on the stock from $24.00 to $21.00. Susquehanna currently has a positive rating on the stock. AES traded as low as $14.50 and last traded at $14.55, with a volume of 716751 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $15.51.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on AES. Barclays increased their price target on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of AES in a report 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.38.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in AES by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,725,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,608,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,929,523 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of AES by 11.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 77,641,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,392,110,000 after purchasing an additional 7,969,594 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in AES in the first quarter valued at $123,272,000. M&G PLC grew its position in AES by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,235,000 after purchasing an additional 732,457 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of AES by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,769,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,805,000 after buying an additional 141,565 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Stock Down 3.8 %

The stock has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a PE ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $17.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be issued a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.05%. AES’s payout ratio is 47.92%.

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.