AES (NYSE:AES) Shares Gap Down - Should You Sell?

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $11.59, but opened at $11.15. AES shares last traded at $11.52, with a volume of 4,750,441 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AES. Barclays decreased their price target on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America upgraded AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $18.30.

AES Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

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AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the business earned $0.73 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio is 29.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of AES in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,334,000. Gould Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 32.8% in the 4th quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 225,196 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,898,000 after purchasing an additional 55,619 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of AES by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 25,510 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 3,041 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AES by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,515,444 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $19,504,000 after purchasing an additional 101,514 shares during the period. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 760.4% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 2,958 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is 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.