The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Receives $13.67 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.67.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AES shares. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective (down from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in AES by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 34,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter valued at about $139,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of AES by 12.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,930,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,794,000 after buying an additional 333,154 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in AES by 3.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 830,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,667,000 after acquiring an additional 28,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its stake in AES by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 3,541,203 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,575,000 after acquiring an additional 32,122 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Price Performance

NYSE:AES opened at $10.17 on Thursday. AES has a one year low of $9.86 and a one year high of $22.21. The stock has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a PE ratio of 7.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $11.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.89. 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 (NYSE:AES) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

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.