The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.57.

AES has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $17.08 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.97. AES has a one year low of $14.15 and a one year high of $22.21. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.72 and a beta of 1.07.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.21 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.04%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 95.83%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AES. Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AES by 92.4% during the second quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 720 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in AES during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in AES by 102.3% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 898 shares in the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in AES during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in AES during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.