AES (NYSE:AES) Downgraded by Jefferies Financial Group to “Underperform”

AES (NYSE:AES) was downgraded by Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $9.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $10.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target indicates a potential downside of 11.29% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of AES from $108.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. HSBC cut their price objective on AES from $15.00 to $14.00 in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.22.

AES Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $10.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.05, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. AES has a twelve month low of $9.57 and a twelve month high of $22.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of $11.23 and a 200 day moving average of $11.88.

AES (NYSE:AES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AES. FMR LLC increased its holdings in AES by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $632,865,000 after acquiring an additional 8,027,426 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of AES by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $367,499,000 after purchasing an additional 7,519,129 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its position in shares of AES by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 27,518,952 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $341,785,000 after purchasing an additional 4,930,252 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of AES by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,790,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $258,224,000 after buying an additional 4,842,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $216,862,000 after buying an additional 381,761 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.