AES (NYSE:AES) Rating Lowered to Underperform at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of AES (NYSE:AES - Free Report) from a hold rating to an underperform rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $9.00 price objective on the utilities provider's stock, down from their previous price objective of $10.00.

AES has been the subject of several other reports. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. HSBC decreased their target price on shares of AES from $15.00 to $14.00 in a report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.22.

AES Trading Up 3.9%

NYSE AES traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $10.01. 22,736,547 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,406,761. The business's 50 day moving average is $11.10 and its 200-day moving average is $11.79. 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 12-month low of $9.46 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. AES's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of AES

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AES. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in AES in the fourth quarter worth $121,627,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $632,865,000 after acquiring an additional 8,027,426 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of AES by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $367,499,000 after acquiring an additional 7,519,129 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in AES by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,948,807 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $205,261,000 after acquiring an additional 6,238,087 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Shore Management Inc. CT acquired a new position in AES in the fourth quarter worth about $69,083,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company's stock.

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.