The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Short Interest Down 21.7% in March

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) saw a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 30,560,000 shares, a drop of 21.7% from the February 28th total of 39,010,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 15,220,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days. Currently, 4.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho dropped their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays reduced their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, HSBC began coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.63.

AES Price Performance

AES traded up $0.12 on Wednesday, reaching $12.49. 9,308,392 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,984,586. AES has a twelve month low of $9.88 and a twelve month high of $22.21. The stock has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a PE ratio of 8.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. 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 fifty day moving average price is $11.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.72.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rockland Trust Co. lifted its holdings in AES by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 16,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 1,110 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 34,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its holdings in shares of AES by 79.5% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 93.3% during the 4th quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV raised its holdings in AES by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 85,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after buying an additional 1,382 shares during the period. 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.