AES (NYSE:AES) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

by · The Markets Daily

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES – Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $12.15 and last traded at $12.17, with a volume of 6268582 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $12.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the topic of a number of research reports. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. HSBC began coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho cut their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.30.

View Our Latest Research Report on AES

AES Trading Down 3.1 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The company has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a PE ratio of 8.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.00.

AES (NYSE:AES – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Increases Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AES. State Street Corp increased its position in AES by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $775,354,000 after buying an additional 5,960,546 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in AES by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $330,125,000 after acquiring an additional 181,975 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in AES by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,694,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $134,286,000 after purchasing an additional 82,956 shares during the period. M&G PLC grew its position in AES by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,235,000 after purchasing an additional 732,457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in shares of AES by 30.3% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,838,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,000,000 after buying an additional 892,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

Featured Stories