The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.80.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AES shares. Bank of America started coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. HSBC began coverage on AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho dropped their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its holdings in AES by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in AES by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in AES by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora increased its holdings in AES by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 84,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Live Oak Investment Partners increased its holdings in AES by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Live Oak Investment Partners now owns 29,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,104 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES opened at $10.44 on Friday. AES has a 12-month low of $10.33 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The business’s fifty day moving average is $12.41 and its 200 day moving average is $15.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The stock has a market cap of $7.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.99.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.74%. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. AES’s payout ratio is presently 48.61%.

About AES

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.