Franklin Resources Inc. Lowers Stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its position in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,817,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 113,283 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.40% of AES worth $36,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in AES by 18.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $330,125,000 after acquiring an additional 181,975 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,879,259 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $88,536,000 after acquiring an additional 185,020 shares in the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT acquired a new position in shares of AES during the 4th quarter valued at $69,083,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in AES by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,756,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,220,000 after purchasing an additional 249,486 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AES. HSBC began coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Bank of America raised AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.29.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock opened at $10.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $11.39 and a 200-day moving average of $13.60. The stock has a market cap of $7.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The AES Co. has a 52 week low of $9.88 and a 52 week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.73 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

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.