AES (NYSE:AES) PT Raised to $24.00

AES (NYSE:AES - Free Report) had its target price boosted by Mizuho from $21.00 to $24.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the utilities provider's stock.

AES has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an overweight rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a report on Monday, March 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group cut their price target on AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Argus reissued a buy rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AES has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $22.50.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $21.28. The stock had a trading volume of 8,785,389 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,441,206. The company's 50-day moving average price is $17.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.38. AES has a fifty-two week low of $11.43 and a fifty-two week high of $22.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04. The company has a market capitalization of $15.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56 and a beta of 1.08.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.16. AES had a net margin of 4.40% and a return on equity of 36.23%. The business had revenue of $3.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.22 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AES will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st were given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 30th. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 95.83%.

Institutional Trading of AES

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AES. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in AES by 76.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 71,348,566 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,373,460,000 after purchasing an additional 31,009,718 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 38.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,821,650 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $559,689,000 after buying an additional 10,256,781 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in AES by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 77,641,395 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,392,110,000 after buying an additional 7,969,594 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new position in AES during the 1st quarter worth approximately $123,272,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AES by 70.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,441,980 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $124,008,000 after acquiring an additional 2,670,001 shares in the last quarter. 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.