The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.50.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE AES opened at $19.13 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63. The business’s 50 day moving average is $17.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.57 and a beta of 1.07. AES has a 12-month low of $11.43 and a 12-month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. AES had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. AES’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.21 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that AES will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 95.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AES. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in AES by 76.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 71,348,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,373,460,000 after acquiring an additional 31,009,718 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 7,969,594 shares during the period. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in AES in the 1st quarter worth about $123,272,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in AES by 70.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,441,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,008,000 after buying an additional 2,670,001 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,929,523 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

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.