AES (NYSE:AES) Price Target Cut to $15.00 by Analysts at Susquehanna

AES (NYSE:AES) had its price target cut by Susquehanna from $16.00 to $15.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a positive rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AES has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.30.

AES Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $10.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.80 billion, a PE ratio of 7.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $11.43 and its 200 day moving average is $14.43. AES has a 1 year low of $9.88 and a 1 year high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that AES will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.42%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 266,672 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,349,000 after acquiring an additional 25,720 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of AES by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 357,402 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,169,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269 shares during the period. United Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter valued at $368,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 237.8% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 74,668 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,498,000 after acquiring an additional 52,562 shares during the period. Finally, M&G PLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,235,000 after acquiring an additional 732,457 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is 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.