AES (NYSE:AES) Shares Gap Down - Time to Sell?

Shares of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $11.52, but opened at $11.13. AES shares last traded at $11.08, with a volume of 2,044,557 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AES has been the subject of several research analyst reports. HSBC decreased their price objective on AES from $15.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $24.22.

AES Trading Down 3.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $10.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.21. The stock has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.95.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a return on equity of 18.06% and a net margin of 10.67%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of AES

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,201 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in AES in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in AES in the 1st quarter valued at $40,000. CVA Family Office LLC grew its position in AES by 200.6% in the 1st quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169 shares during the period. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its position in AES by 760.4% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 2,958 shares during the period. 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.