Brokerages Set The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) PT at $13.67

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.67.

Several research analysts have commented on AES shares. Susquehanna lowered their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $10.00 price objective (down from $15.00) on shares of AES in a report on Thursday, April 10th.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock traded up $0.21 during trading on Thursday, reaching $10.17. 10,475,732 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,348,657. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $11.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.24 billion, a PE ratio of 7.06, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. AES has a twelve month low of $9.86 and a twelve month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AES. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of AES during the fourth quarter valued at about $121,627,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in AES by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $632,865,000 after acquiring an additional 8,027,426 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in AES by 35.7% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $367,499,000 after purchasing an additional 7,519,129 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in AES by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,948,807 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $205,261,000 after purchasing an additional 6,238,087 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Shore Management Inc. CT bought a new position in shares of AES in the fourth quarter worth $69,083,000. 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.