AES Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:AES)

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 8,958 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 57% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,718 call options.

AES Trading Down 8.6 %

Shares of AES stock traded down $1.42 on Friday, hitting $15.07. The stock had a trading volume of 9,757,212 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,189,363. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.61 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.94 and a 200 day moving average of $18.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.97. AES has a twelve month low of $14.69 and a twelve month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that AES will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.1725 per share. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. AES’s payout ratio is 47.92%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 92.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of AES in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its position in AES by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in AES by 102.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in AES in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AES. Barclays upped their target price on shares of AES from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of AES in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.57.

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.