AES (NYSE:AES) Shares Gap Up - Still a Buy?

The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $11.07, but opened at $12.76. AES shares last traded at $12.92, with a volume of 13,429,401 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. HSBC cut their target price on shares of AES from $15.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Argus reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $24.22.

AES Trading Up 1.6%

The company's fifty day moving average price is $10.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. The firm has a market cap of $8.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.95.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a return on equity of 18.06% and a net margin of 10.67%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The AES Corporation will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.58%. AES's payout ratio is presently 38.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its position in AES by 79.5% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AES in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AES in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,169 shares during the period. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,958 shares during the period. 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.