AES (NYSE:AES) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $11.99, but opened at $11.69. AES shares last traded at $11.62, with a volume of 913,399 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America raised AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. HSBC started coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.30.

AES Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $8.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $11.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.07%. AES’s payout ratio is 29.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in shares of AES by 67.1% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 332,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,273,000 after purchasing an additional 133,308 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of AES by 5,143.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $991,000 after purchasing an additional 75,509 shares in the last quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AES by 34.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 760,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,261,000 after purchasing an additional 195,460 shares during the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd bought a new stake in AES during the fourth quarter worth about $489,000. Finally, Leibman Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in AES during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,375,000. 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.