AES (NYSE:AES) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at HSBC

HSBC began coverage on shares of AES (NYSE:AES) in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $17.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Susquehanna lowered their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.30.

AES Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of AES opened at $13.35 on Friday. AES has a twelve month low of $12.53 and a twelve month high of $22.21. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $14.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.09.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. AES’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that AES will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. This is a positive change from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.27%. AES’s payout ratio is presently 47.92%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AES during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of AES by 102.3% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AES during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of AES by 59.1% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.