AES (NYSE:AES) Sets New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $11.48 and last traded at $11.56, with a volume of 1212967 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $11.75.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on AES. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America initiated coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One equities research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AES has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.30.

AES Stock Up 3.5 %

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 has a 50 day moving average price of $12.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.00, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.00.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.176 dividend. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.11%. AES’s payout ratio is presently 47.92%.

Institutional Trading of AES

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of AES by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $775,354,000 after buying an additional 5,960,546 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in AES by 169.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,143,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,348,195 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in shares of AES by 30.3% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,838,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,000,000 after purchasing an additional 892,500 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP bought a new stake in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter valued at about $17,390,000. Finally, M&G PLC increased its position in shares of AES by 12.7% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,235,000 after buying an additional 732,457 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.