Franklin Resources Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,930,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 333,154 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.41% of AES worth $58,794,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in AES in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AES in the second quarter worth $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in AES by 102.3% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in AES during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AES has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. HSBC initiated coverage on AES in a research report on Friday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.30.

AES Stock Down 1.5 %

AES opened at $13.16 on Tuesday. 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 AES Co. has a twelve month low of $12.53 and a twelve month high of $22.21. The company has a market cap of $9.35 billion, a PE ratio of 9.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $14.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.03.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.35%. This is a boost from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is 48.61%.

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.