AES (NYSE:AES) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Mizuho

Mizuho started coverage on shares of AES (NYSE:AES) in a research note released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $21.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of AES in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an overweight rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a report on Monday, March 25th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of AES from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 14th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus reiterated a buy rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $22.13.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $16.27 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $11.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.30 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $16.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.42. AES has a 12 month low of $11.43 and a 12 month high of $24.54.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.06. AES had a net margin of 2.12% and a return on equity of 38.76%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. AES’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.24%. AES’s payout ratio is 209.10%.

Institutional Trading of AES

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AES. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of AES by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 51,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,319,000 after purchasing an additional 5,594 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in AES by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 91,659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,358,000 after acquiring an additional 7,975 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its holdings in AES by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 309,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,291,000 after acquiring an additional 3,755 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AES by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 110,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,844,000 after buying an additional 2,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AES by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 22,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $574,000 after buying an additional 4,351 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.