AES Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:AES)

by · The Markets Daily

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES – Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 22,660 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 186% compared to the average daily volume of 7,925 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

View Our Latest Research Report on AES

AES Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AES traded down $0.37 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $13.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,199,073 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,721,391. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.15 and a 200-day moving average of $18.01. 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 cap of $9.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.54 and a beta of 1.10. AES has a 12 month low of $13.27 and a 12 month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. AES’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AES will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. AES’s payout ratio is currently 47.92%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of AES during the third quarter valued at $204,000. Gould Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AES in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,402,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in AES by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,513,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $330,125,000 after buying an additional 181,975 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its position in AES by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 37,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $746,000 after acquiring an additional 3,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in AES by 10.3% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 220,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,433,000 after purchasing an additional 20,545 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About AES

(Get Free Report)

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.

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