Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of AES Call Options (NYSE:AES)

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 18,306 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 26% compared to the typical daily volume of 14,475 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AES. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in AES in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of AES by 190.3% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its holdings in AES by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 2,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC boosted its position in AES by 93.3% in the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 760.4% during the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 2,958 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AES. HSBC started coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America initiated coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $11.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.80.

AES Trading Up 12.1 %

Shares of AES stock traded up $1.25 on Friday, reaching $11.63. 30,572,374 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,787,292. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $11.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.59. The company has a market capitalization of $8.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. AES has a 52 week low of $9.88 and a 52 week high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.73 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a $0.176 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.61%.

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.