The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) Declares $0.18 Quarterly Dividend

The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, July 11th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.176 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.58%.

AES has a payout ratio of 31.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect AES to earn $2.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.7%.

AES Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE:AES traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $12.61. 20,985,247 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,795,431. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. AES has a one year low of $9.46 and a one year high of $20.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.22.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a return on equity of 18.06% and a net margin of 10.67%. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AES has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Argus reissued a "hold" rating on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. HSBC lowered their price objective on AES from $15.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $24.22.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Woodline Partners LP grew its position in AES by 40.7% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 60,072 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $746,000 after acquiring an additional 17,372 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of AES by 763.3% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 146,851 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,824,000 after acquiring an additional 129,841 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in shares of AES during the first quarter valued at about $190,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of AES by 259.7% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 54,407 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $675,000 after acquiring an additional 39,283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in AES by 6.1% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 68,745 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $854,000 after buying an additional 3,936 shares in the last quarter. 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.