The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.18

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 21st, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.176 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.67%.

AES has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. AES has a dividend payout ratio of 32.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect AES to earn $2.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.7%.

AES Trading Down 1.1 %

AES stock traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $10.56. 19,721,994 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,657,526. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. AES has a fifty-two week low of $9.88 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.33, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $11.70 and its 200-day moving average is $14.75.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AES shares. HSBC started coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AES has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.80.

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.