AES (NYSE:AES) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $12.81 and last traded at $12.98, with a volume of 425333 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.16.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna lowered their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays upped their price target on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America started coverage on AES in a research note on Monday. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.22.

AES Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.73 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.31%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in AES during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Rise Advisors LLC grew its position 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 valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of AES in the second quarter worth $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of AES by 59.1% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in AES by 102.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.