AES (NYSE:AES) Reaches New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Susquehanna lowered their price target on the stock from $24.00 to $21.00. Susquehanna currently has a positive rating on the stock. AES traded as low as $14.50 and last traded at $14.55, with a volume of 716751 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.51.

AES has been the topic of several other research reports. Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays raised 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AES currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.38.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AES. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of AES by 161.8% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 107,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after buying an additional 66,145 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 124,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,237,000 after purchasing an additional 2,273 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of AES by 735.2% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 617,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,070,000 after purchasing an additional 543,464 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in AES by 20.1% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 839,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,049,000 after purchasing an additional 140,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in AES by 178.5% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 689,879 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,369,000 after buying an additional 442,184 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AES Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $17.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The company has a market cap of $10.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.86 and a beta of 1.10.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a $0.1725 dividend. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. AES’s payout ratio is 47.92%.

AES Company Profile

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.