AES (NYSE:AES) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at HSBC

Equities research analysts at HSBC started coverage on shares of AES (NYSE:AES) in a note issued to investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. HSBC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 25.69% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. Susquehanna lowered their price target on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho lowered their target price on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AES has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.90.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock opened at $13.53 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $9.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.01. AES has a 52 week low of $12.53 and a 52 week high of $22.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $15.10 and a 200-day moving average of $17.20.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that AES will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in AES by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,930,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,794,000 after buying an additional 333,154 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $139,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in AES by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 34,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $683,000 after buying an additional 1,141 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of AES during the third quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Finally, Gould Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of AES during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,402,000. 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.