The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.13.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TheStreet cut AES from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Friday, October 20th. Barclays reduced their price target on AES from $25.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on AES from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on AES from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded AES to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 3rd.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES opened at $16.20 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $10.85 billion, a PE ratio of -26.56, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $15.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.35, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.74. AES has a 1 year low of $11.43 and a 1 year high of $29.89.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 1st will be given a dividend of $0.1659 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 31st. AES’s payout ratio is -108.19%.

Insider Transactions at AES

In related news, EVP Paul L. Freedman bought 1,530 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $16.40 per share, with a total value of $25,092.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 73,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,210,287.20. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Paul L. Freedman acquired 1,530 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $16.40 per share, with a total value of $25,092.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 73,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,210,287.20. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Stephen Coughlin purchased 1,529 shares of AES stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $16.40 per share, with a total value of $25,075.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 78,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,279,806.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders bought 81,989 shares of company stock worth $1,394,858. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AES. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in AES by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 51,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,319,000 after acquiring an additional 5,594 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in AES by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 91,659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,358,000 after acquiring an additional 7,975 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its stake in AES by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 309,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,291,000 after acquiring an additional 3,755 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its stake in AES by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 110,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,844,000 after acquiring an additional 2,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. increased its stake in AES by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 22,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $574,000 after acquiring an additional 4,351 shares during the last quarter. 94.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Company Profile

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.