The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $19.30.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AES shares. Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price target on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of AES by 8.9% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 58,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,033,000 after buying an additional 4,799 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in AES by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 66,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after purchasing an additional 11,828 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of AES by 6.7% in the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 61,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,072,000 after purchasing an additional 3,810 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of AES by 21.1% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 216,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,804,000 after purchasing an additional 37,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in AES by 12.8% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,098,774 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,875,000 after buying an additional 238,485 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Trading Down 3.1 %

AES stock opened at $12.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.55 billion, a PE ratio of 8.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. AES has a 12 month low of $11.95 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $13.25 and its 200 day moving average is $16.13.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is an increase from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.61%.

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.