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

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 7,226 call options on the company. This is an increase of 121% compared to the average daily volume of 3,268 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. TheStreet downgraded AES from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on AES from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Bank of America lowered their target price on AES from $23.00 to $15.00 in a report on Thursday, October 12th. StockNews.com upgraded AES to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 3rd. Finally, UBS Group cut AES from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $22.00 to $13.00 in a report on Thursday, October 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AES presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.13.

Insider Activity at AES

In related news, EVP Paul L. Freedman acquired 1,530 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.40 per share, with a total value of $25,092.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 73,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,210,287.20. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Stephen Coughlin acquired 1,529 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $16.40 per share, with a total value of $25,075.60. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 78,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,279,806.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Paul L. Freedman acquired 1,530 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $16.40 per share, with a total value of $25,092.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 73,798 shares in the company, valued at $1,210,287.20. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 57,039 shares of company stock valued at $934,195 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of AES by 30.5% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 67,720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,631,000 after purchasing an additional 15,827 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of AES by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 167,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,467,000 after acquiring an additional 5,041 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AES by 36.8% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,258,476 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,088,000 after acquiring an additional 338,260 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in AES by 287.9% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 181,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,815,000 after purchasing an additional 134,442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd acquired a new stake in AES during the first quarter valued at approximately $4,672,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.49% of the company’s stock.

AES Trading Up 9.0 %

AES opened at $16.94 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $15.23 and its 200-day moving average is $18.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.07. AES has a 52-week low of $11.43 and a 52-week high of $29.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.35.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.1659 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 31st. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -75.00%.

AES Company Profile

The AES Corporation operates as a diversified power generation and utility company. It owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to customers, such as utilities, industrial users, and other intermediaries. The company also 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.