AES (NYSE:AES) Downgraded by Seaport Res Ptn to Strong Sell

Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of AES (NYSE:AES) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AES. Bank of America started coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho lowered their price target on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Hsbc Global Res raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. HSBC started 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, Barclays decreased their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.80.

AES Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $11.18 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $11.51 and a 200 day moving average of $14.52. The company has a market cap of $7.95 billion, a PE ratio of 7.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. AES has a 12-month low of $9.88 and a 12-month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors 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 yield of 6.30%. AES’s payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

Institutional Trading of AES

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC raised 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 valued at $632,865,000 after buying an additional 8,027,426 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in AES by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,354,000 after buying an additional 5,960,546 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in AES by 35.7% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $367,499,000 after acquiring an additional 7,519,129 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in AES by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,895,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $216,862,000 after acquiring an additional 381,761 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 6,238,087 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

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.