Franklin Resources Inc. Has $48.84 Million Holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its holdings in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) by 15.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,537,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 464,927 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.38% of AES worth $48,838,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. FMR LLC lifted its stake in AES by 38.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 36,821,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $559,689,000 after buying an additional 10,256,781 shares during the period. CI Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of AES by 18,505.6% during the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 2,030,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,862,000 after purchasing an additional 2,019,516 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of AES by 24.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,611,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $115,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484,052 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of AES by 114.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,677,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,697,000 after purchasing an additional 1,426,662 shares during the period. Finally, Electron Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of AES by 9.3% during the third quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,060,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $122,513,000 after purchasing an additional 686,719 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AES has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho upped their target price on AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of AES in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on AES from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.50.

AES Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:AES opened at $20.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.86 billion, a PE ratio of 29.04 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $18.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.57. The AES Co. has a 1 year low of $11.43 and a 1 year high of $22.60.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $3.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.20 billion. AES had a return on equity of 36.23% and a net margin of 4.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. Analysts forecast that The AES Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

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.