AES (NYSE:AES) Given New $17.00 Price Target at Barclays

AES (NYSE:AES) had its price target trimmed by Barclays from $23.00 to $17.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

AES has been the subject of several other research reports. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America began coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.30.

AES Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of AES opened at $13.35 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.49 billion, a PE ratio of 9.27, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $14.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. AES has a 12 month low of $12.53 and a 12 month high of $22.21.

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

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.27%. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its position in AES by 18.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,354,000 after buying an additional 5,960,546 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of AES by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $330,125,000 after acquiring an additional 181,975 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AES by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,694,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $134,286,000 after purchasing an additional 82,956 shares during the last quarter. M&G PLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in AES by 3.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,769,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,805,000 after purchasing an additional 141,565 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.