Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on AES (NYSE:AES)

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 55,003 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 298% compared to the typical volume of 13,809 call options.

AES Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $10.25 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.25. The company has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. AES has a 12 month low of $9.57 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.10). AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.87%. AES’s payout ratio is currently 38.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on AES shares. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down from $15.00) on shares of AES in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn cut AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.71.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in AES by 190.3% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,581 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its position in AES by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in AES in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its position in AES by 93.3% in the 4th quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 1,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC boosted its stake in shares of AES by 200.6% during the 1st quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 2,169 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

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.