The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• The AES Corporation has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from twelve analysts, with price targets ranging from $9.00 to $24.6667.
• In its latest earnings report, AES posted $0.51 EPS, surpassing estimates, despite a year-over-year revenue decline of 3.0%.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.176 per share, with an annualized yield of 5.5% and a payout ratio of 49.30%.

The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $24.6667.

Several brokerages have issued reports on AES. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AES from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their price target for the company 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. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st.

AES Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of AES opened at $12.88 on Friday. AES has a 52-week low of $9.46 and a 52-week high of $20.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46. The firm's fifty day moving average is $13.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.76. The stock has a market cap of $9.17 billion, a PE ratio of 9.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.92.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that AES will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. AES's dividend payout ratio is 49.30%.

Institutional Trading of AES

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AES. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in AES by 51.4% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 147,609 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,900,000 after purchasing an additional 50,125 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in AES by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 79,261 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,020,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in AES by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 238,502 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,069,000 after purchasing an additional 37,034 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in AES by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 64,809 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $834,000 after purchasing an additional 2,908 shares during the period. Finally, Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV increased its stake in AES by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 85,866 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 1,382 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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