AES Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:AES)

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders acquired 24,643 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 75% compared to the average daily volume of 14,084 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of AES in the 4th quarter valued at about $121,627,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in AES by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 49,173,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $632,865,000 after purchasing an additional 8,027,426 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AES by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 28,571,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $367,499,000 after purchasing an additional 7,519,129 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of AES by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,948,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,261,000 after buying an additional 6,238,087 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in AES by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,651,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,354,000 after buying an additional 5,960,546 shares during the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Trading Up 11.6 %

Shares of AES stock opened at $11.59 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The firm has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $11.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.59. AES has a 12-month low of $9.88 and a 12-month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AES. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America began coverage on shares of AES in a research note on Monday, November 25th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, HSBC initiated coverage on AES in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AES currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.80.

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.