AES (NYSE:AES) Trading 5.2% Higher Following Earnings Beat

Key Points

• AES Corporation shares rose 5.2% following a quarterly earnings report that exceeded analysts' expectations, reporting $0.51 EPS compared to the consensus estimate of $0.39.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.176 per share, translating to an annual yield of 5.2% with a payout ratio of 38.04%.
• Despite the positive earnings, various analysts have downgraded their ratings for AES, with indications of a "Moderate Buy" consensus and a target price averaging $24.67.

Shares of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) traded up 5.2% on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The company traded as high as $13.60 and last traded at $13.64. 2,604,301 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 16,122,742 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.97.

The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.12. AES had a return on equity of 18.06% and a net margin of 10.67%. The business had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. AES's revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. AES's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on AES. Wall Street Zen lowered AES from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Susquehanna increased their price target on AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, HSBC dropped their price objective on AES from $15.00 to $14.00 in a report on Monday, May 5th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.67.

Institutional Trading of AES

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AES. FMR LLC boosted its stake in AES by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $632,865,000 after purchasing an additional 8,027,426 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted 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 during the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its stake in AES by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 27,518,952 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $341,785,000 after purchasing an additional 4,930,252 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in AES by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,790,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $258,224,000 after purchasing an additional 4,842,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in AES by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,895,678 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $216,862,000 after purchasing an additional 381,761 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.95. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.29.

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.

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