The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.80.

Several analysts recently issued reports on AES shares. Barclays increased their price target on AES from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI started coverage on AES in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised AES from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on AES from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday.

AES Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $14.43 on Thursday. AES has a 12-month low of $9.46 and a 12-month high of $18.31. The company has a market cap of $10.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $13.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.99.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.12. AES had a return on equity of 19.02% and a net margin of 8.42%.The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st 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 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. AES’s payout ratio is presently 49.30%.

Institutional Trading of AES

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in AES by 25.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,115,438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $88,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,421,899 shares in the last quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. grew its stake in AES by 37.4% in the first quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 291,418 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,619,000 after purchasing an additional 79,355 shares in the last quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AES in the first quarter worth about $1,172,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in AES by 2.5% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 824,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,235,000 after purchasing an additional 20,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in AES by 13.3% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,270,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,780,000 after purchasing an additional 148,772 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.