AES (NYSE:AES) Hits New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on AES shares. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on AES in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on AES in a research note on Monday. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.22.

AES Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $9.17 billion, a PE ratio of 9.14 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.89.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business 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 of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.35%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in AES during the third quarter valued at approximately $139,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 3.5% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 34,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in AES in the third quarter worth $204,000. Gould Capital LLC purchased a new stake in AES during the third quarter valued at $3,402,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AES by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $330,125,000 after buying an additional 181,975 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.