AES (NYSE:AES) Sets New 52-Week Low Following Analyst Downgrade

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $17.00 to $12.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. AES traded as low as $10.99 and last traded at $10.93, with a volume of 3421534 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $11.44.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on AES. Bank of America began coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. HSBC began coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.80.

Institutional Trading of AES

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in AES by 5,143.7% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $991,000 after purchasing an additional 75,509 shares during the last quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AES by 34.6% in the third quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 760,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,261,000 after buying an additional 195,460 shares during the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in AES during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,375,000. M&G PLC raised its position in AES by 12.7% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,235,000 after acquiring an additional 732,457 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of AES by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 406,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,231,000 after acquiring an additional 43,792 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $12.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.54. The stock has a market cap of $7.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.00. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.