HSBC Begins Coverage on AES (NYSE:AES)

Research analysts at HSBC initiated coverage on shares of AES (NYSE:AES) in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. HSBC’s target price points to a potential upside of 27.34% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on AES. Mizuho dropped their price target on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America started coverage on AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.30.

AES Price Performance

NYSE:AES opened at $13.35 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $14.99 and a 200 day moving average of $17.12. AES has a 52-week low of $12.53 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.01. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. AES’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that AES will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in shares of AES during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of AES in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of AES by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of AES by 102.3% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in AES in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.