AES (NYSE:AES) Shares Up 5.5% – Here’s What Happened

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)’s share price rose 5.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $15.64 and last traded at $15.52. Approximately 2,496,326 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 8,261,875 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.71.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI raised AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.38.

AES Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $11.03 billion, a PE ratio of 10.77 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.45%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.92%.

Institutional Trading of AES

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. CWM LLC increased its position in AES by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 27,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of AES by 59.1% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in shares of AES by 1.6% in the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 44,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after buying an additional 711 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its position in AES by 92.4% during the second quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in AES by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 18,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.