AES (NYSE:AES) Upgraded at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AES (NYSE:AES) to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Barclays cut their target price on shares of AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a buy rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $21.50.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $18.90 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25 and a beta of 1.07. AES has a one year low of $11.43 and a one year high of $22.21. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $17.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that AES will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. AES’s payout ratio is currently 95.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 92.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of AES during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 898 shares during the period. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of AES during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of AES during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. 93.13% of the stock is 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.