The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Short Interest Update

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES – Get Rating) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,990,000 shares, a decrease of 26.7% from the March 15th total of 12,270,000 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 6,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Shares of NYSE AES traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $24.41. The stock had a trading volume of 4,368,771 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,710,754. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.63. The firm has a market cap of $16.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -37.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $23.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.58. AES has a 52-week low of $19.76 and a 52-week high of $28.86.

AES (NYSE:AES – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.63 billion. AES had a positive return on equity of 31.10% and a negative net margin of 4.61%. AES’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 13th. Investors of record on Friday, April 29th will be paid a $0.158 dividend. This represents a $0.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 28th. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -96.92%.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AES shares. Citigroup started coverage on AES in a report on Tuesday, March 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on AES from $31.50 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 6th. TheStreet cut AES from a “b” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 1st. Seaport Res Ptn reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on AES in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $29.71.

In related news, CFO Stephen Coughlin bought 47,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $21.30 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,100.00. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Achmea Investment Management B.V. acquired a new position in shares of AES during the third quarter worth $25,000. Spire Wealth Management increased its position in shares of AES by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,965 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of AES by 261.3% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,189 shares in the last quarter. Allegheny Financial Group LTD acquired a new position in shares of AES during the fourth quarter worth $67,000. Finally, CWM LLC acquired a new position in shares of AES in the 4th quarter valued at $74,000. 94.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Company Profile (Get Rating)

The AES Corporation operates as a diversified power generation and utility company. It owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to customers, such as utilities, industrial users, and other intermediaries. The company also 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.

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