AES (NYSE:AES) Price Target Raised to $17.00

AES (NYSE:AES) had its target price upped by Susquehanna from $16.00 to $17.00 in a report released on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a positive rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

AES has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of AES in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AES from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on AES from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on AES in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $15.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.80.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE:AES opened at $14.74 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.49 billion, a PE ratio of 10.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.93. AES has a 52-week low of $9.46 and a 52-week high of $17.98.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. AES had a return on equity of 19.02% and a net margin of 8.42%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. Analysts forecast that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.30%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $150,000. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 64.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 303,476 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,994,000 after acquiring an additional 118,911 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in AES by 227.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 29,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 20,657 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in AES by 247.6% during the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 968,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,185,000 after acquiring an additional 689,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gould Capital LLC raised its position in AES by 3.2% during the second quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 253,531 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,667,000 after purchasing an additional 7,766 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

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.