Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for AES (NYSE:AES) Stock Price

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by stock analysts at Barclays from $17.00 to $12.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the utilities provider's stock. Barclays's price objective suggests a potential upside of 9.04% from the company's previous close.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Mizuho lowered their target price on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America began coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. HSBC began coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $18.80.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AES traded down $0.44 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $11.01. 22,664,502 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,738,836. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $12.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.57. 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 has a 12 month low of $10.81 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The firm has a market cap of $7.82 billion, a PE ratio of 7.64, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.00.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new stake in shares of AES during the third quarter worth $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its holdings in AES by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of AES in the third quarter valued at about $63,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt acquired a new position in shares of AES during the third quarter worth about $74,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AES by 69.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,688 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 1,509 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by 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.