Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on AES (NYSE:AES)

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 28,313 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 138% compared to the typical daily volume of 11,907 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AES. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America initiated coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho decreased their price target on AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.80.

Institutional Trading of AES

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of AES by 5,143.7% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 76,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $991,000 after acquiring an additional 75,509 shares during the period. Rock Point Advisors LLC boosted its position in AES by 34.6% during the third quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 760,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,261,000 after purchasing an additional 195,460 shares during the period. Leibman Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AES in the fourth quarter worth about $2,375,000. M&G PLC raised its position in shares of AES by 12.7% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 6,511,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,235,000 after purchasing an additional 732,457 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in AES by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 406,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,231,000 after buying an additional 43,792 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE AES opened at $11.16 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $12.63 and its 200-day moving average is $15.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.75, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.00. AES has a one year low of $10.81 and a one year high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that AES will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This is an increase from AES’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.31%. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.61%.

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.