AES Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:AES)

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 22,660 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 186% compared to the typical volume of 7,925 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 2.4% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 27,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its position in AES by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its stake in shares of AES by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 44,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,000 after acquiring an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AES by 92.4% in the second quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in AES by 3.2% during the third quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on AES in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.38.

AES Stock Down 3.4 %

AES stock opened at $13.28 on Thursday. AES has a fifty-two week low of $13.16 and a fifty-two week high of $22.21. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.22 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.98.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued 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 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 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $0.1725 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.20%. AES’s payout ratio is 47.92%.

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.