Mizuho Lowers AES (NYSE:AES) Price Target to $15.00

AES (NYSE:AES) had its price target trimmed by Mizuho from $16.00 to $15.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on AES. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays reduced their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, HSBC began coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AES has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.30.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE AES opened at $10.84 on Tuesday. AES has a fifty-two week low of $9.88 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $7.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.52, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.40.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that AES will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.50%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.54%.

Institutional Trading of AES

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in AES during the 4th quarter worth about $3,334,000. Gould Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of AES by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 225,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,898,000 after acquiring an additional 55,619 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in AES by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 25,510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 3,041 shares in the last quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in AES by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,515,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,504,000 after purchasing an additional 101,514 shares during the period. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its position in AES by 760.4% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 2,958 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is 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.