AES (NYSE:AES) Price Target Cut to $21.00 by Analysts at Susquehanna

AES (NYSE:AES) had its price target reduced by Susquehanna from $24.00 to $21.00 in a research report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Susquehanna currently has a positive rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on AES. Barclays upped their price target on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.38.

AES Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $13.66 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $17.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.23. AES has a 1 year low of $13.62 and a 1 year high of $22.21. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.10.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. The business 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%. AES’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be issued a $0.1725 dividend. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of AES by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 77,641,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,392,110,000 after purchasing an additional 7,969,594 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of AES in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $123,272,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AES by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,725,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,608,773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,929,523 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in AES in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,746,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP lifted its stake in AES by 482.8% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,865,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,545,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

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.