Wall Street Zen Upgrades AES (NYSE:AES) to "Buy"

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded AES to “Buy,” while Weiss Ratings raised its assessment from “Hold (C)” to “Hold (C+).” Analysts overall remain cautious: the consensus is “Hold,” with a $15.80 price target.
• AES beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting EPS of $0.60 versus the $0.45 consensus, and revenue of $3.42 billion versus $3.11 billion expected.
• Shares opened at $14.88, and institutional investors own 93.13% of the stock.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised AES from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. According to data from MarketBeat, AES has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $15.80.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES opened at $14.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.93, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.67. AES has a 1-year low of $13.28 and a 1-year high of $17.65. The stock has a market cap of $10.61 billion, a PE ratio of 5.97 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.79.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.15. AES had a return on equity of 20.69% and a net margin of 14.30%. The company had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that AES will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of AES

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in AES during the 2nd quarter valued at about $80,584,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 188.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 290,604 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,260,000 after purchasing an additional 189,691 shares during the last quarter. HBK Investments L P bought a new stake in AES in the second quarter worth $162,298,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AES in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $722,429,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new stake in shares of AES in the second quarter worth approximately $1,413,000. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Company Profile

AES Corporation is a global energy company that develops, owns and operates power generation and utility businesses. Its activities include generating and supplying electricity, developing renewable energy projects, and providing energy infrastructure and related services.

The company's portfolio includes solar, wind, battery energy storage and hydroelectric facilities, as well as natural gas-fired generation and other conventional power assets. AES also works with businesses and other energy users to provide customized clean-energy solutions, including renewable power procurement and storage.

Founded in 1981 as Applied Energy Services, AES serves customers through operations and projects in the United States and international markets across North and South America, Europe and Asia.

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