AES (NYSE:AES) Trading 5.7% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) rose 5.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $13.90 and last traded at $13.79. Approximately 4,911,956 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 46% from the average daily volume of 9,051,985 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.05.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price target on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America started coverage on AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. Susquehanna decreased their price target on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.22.

AES Stock Up 3.3 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.99 and a 200 day moving average of $17.52. The firm has a market cap of $9.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.35, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.12%. AES’s payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in AES by 161.8% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 107,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 66,145 shares in the last quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 34.6% in the third quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 760,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,261,000 after purchasing an additional 195,460 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 12.7% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,235,000 after purchasing an additional 732,457 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 1.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,694,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $134,286,000 after purchasing an additional 82,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments bought a new position in shares of AES in the third quarter valued at approximately $816,000. Institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

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.