AES (NYSE:AES) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of AES (NYSE:AES) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $20.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on AES. Mizuho lifted their target price on AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Barclays reduced their target price on AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $21.50.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $18.54 on Wednesday. AES has a one year low of $11.43 and a one year high of $22.21. The company has a market cap of $13.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.75 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.97. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $17.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.91.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. AES had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. The firm had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.21 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that AES will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. AES’s payout ratio is presently 95.83%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AES. Apollon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in AES during the 4th quarter worth $215,000. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. grew its stake in AES by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. now owns 7,008 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 806 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in AES during the 4th quarter worth $57,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in AES by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,559,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,273,000 after purchasing an additional 10,002 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in AES by 26.1% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 146,117 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,813,000 after purchasing an additional 30,287 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.