The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $15.6250.

AES has been the subject of a number of research reports. Argus downgraded AES from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Susquehanna cut shares of AES from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $16.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 9th.

AES Price Performance

NYSE:AES opened at $14.78 on Friday. AES has a 52-week low of $12.33 and a 52-week high of $17.65. The company has a market cap of $10.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.90 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.70.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.18. AES had a return on equity of 22.66% and a net margin of 10.78%.The business had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.11 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AES will post 2.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in AES by 128.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,147,438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $102,494,000 after acquiring an additional 4,021,385 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 4,710.9% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 542,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,780,000 after purchasing an additional 531,251 shares during the last quarter. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in AES in the fourth quarter valued at $585,000. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT raised its position in AES by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 6,898,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $98,922,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in AES during the 1st quarter worth about $1,842,000. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Company Profile

AES Corporation is a global energy company focused on the generation and distribution of electricity across diversified markets. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, AES develops, builds and operates power plants and distribution systems that serve residential, industrial and commercial customers. The company’s portfolio includes thermal, renewable and battery energy storage facilities designed to deliver reliable and sustainable electricity solutions.

Through its subsidiaries, AES operates a balanced mix of power generation assets, including natural gas, coal and renewables such as solar and wind.