Susquehanna Increases AES (NYSE:AES) Price Target to $17.00

Key Points

• Susquehanna raised its price target for AES from $16.00 to $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.82% from the current stock price.
• Several analysts have varying ratings for AES, with one giving a Strong Buy and others rating it between Sell and Hold, suggesting mixed sentiments within the market.
• AES reported earnings of $0.51 per share, surpassing estimates, but its revenue declined by 3.0% year-over-year, reflecting challenges in the utility sector.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by research analysts at Susquehanna from $16.00 to $17.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "positive" rating on the utilities provider's stock. Susquehanna's target price suggests a potential upside of 20.82% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of AES in a report on Monday, October 6th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $15.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of AES in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AES from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AES from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $23.80.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $14.07 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.74. AES has a 1-year low of $9.46 and a 1-year high of $18.31. The company has a market capitalization of $10.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.93. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $13.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.98.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.12. AES had a net margin of 8.42% and a return on equity of 19.02%. The business had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its position in AES by 21.8% during the first quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 27,518,952 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $341,785,000 after acquiring an additional 4,930,252 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of AES by 30.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,790,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $258,224,000 after purchasing an additional 4,842,149 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its holdings in shares of AES by 975.3% in the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 3,086,164 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,466,000 after purchasing an additional 2,799,148 shares during the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc CT grew its holdings in shares of AES by 32.3% in the second quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc CT now owns 8,067,687 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $84,872,000 after purchasing an additional 1,969,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of AES in the first quarter worth about $18,357,000. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

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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