AES (NYSE:AES) Hits New 52-Week Low - What's Next?

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week low on Thursday . The company traded as low as $9.46 and last traded at $9.58, with a volume of 7922148 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $10.13.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AES has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America upgraded AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Argus reissued a "hold" rating on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.22.

AES Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The firm's fifty day moving average is $11.04 and its 200 day moving average is $11.75. The company has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a PE 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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AES. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of AES by 190.3% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its stake in AES by 79.5% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the first quarter worth $35,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC raised its position in shares of AES by 93.3% in the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of AES in the first quarter worth about $40,000. 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.