The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the ten research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $13.71.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AES shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $10.00 price target (down from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES traded up $0.68 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $12.55. The stock had a trading volume of 23,711,434 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,844,054. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. AES has a 1 year low of $9.57 and a 1 year high of $22.21. The business's 50 day moving average price is $11.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.04. The company has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. AES's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.04%.

Institutional Trading of AES

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AES. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $632,865,000 after buying an additional 8,027,426 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in AES by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $367,499,000 after acquiring an additional 7,519,129 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AES by 2.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of AES during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $121,627,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company's stock.

AES Company Profile

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.