AES (NYSE:AES) Reaches New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $13.27 and last traded at $13.34, with a volume of 6165300 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $13.89.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AES has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Susquehanna dropped their price target on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.38.

AES Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $9.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.72 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.11.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.93%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.92%.

Institutional Trading of AES

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in AES by 33.2% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 512,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,284,000 after buying an additional 127,850 shares during the last quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in AES by 200.8% during the third quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC now owns 159,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,196,000 after buying an additional 106,359 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of AES by 9.4% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,946,862 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $59,114,000 after buying an additional 254,197 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in AES by 3.1% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 124,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,491,000 after acquiring an additional 3,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of AES by 28.4% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 257,368 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,163,000 after acquiring an additional 56,879 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.