AES (NYSE:AES) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $13.27 and last traded at $13.34, with a volume of 6165300 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.89.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AES shares. Barclays lifted their price target on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.38.

AES Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $9.57 billion, a PE ratio of 9.65 and a beta of 1.10.

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

AES Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors increased its position 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 buying an additional 7,969,594 shares during the period. M&G Plc purchased a new position in AES in the first quarter valued at about $123,272,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in AES by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,725,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,608,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,929,523 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in AES during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,746,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of AES by 482.8% in the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,865,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,439,000 after buying an additional 1,545,000 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.