AES (NYSE:AES) Sets New 1-Year Low - Here's What Happened

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $9.57 and last traded at $9.80, with a volume of 13711481 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $10.18.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $13.71.

AES Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $7.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.98, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.59. 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 (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio is 29.54%.

Institutional Trading of AES

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 19.5% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 7,519,129 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AES by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,895,678 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $216,862,000 after buying an additional 381,761 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of AES by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,948,807 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $205,261,000 after buying an additional 6,238,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of AES during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $121,627,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.