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

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 18,306 call options on the company. This is an increase of 26% compared to the average daily volume of 14,475 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AES has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday. Barclays lowered their target price on AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price objective 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $18.90.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AES by 69.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,688 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AES during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,803,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in shares of AES by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 82,888 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,662,000 after buying an additional 5,605 shares during the period. abrdn plc boosted its stake in shares of AES by 25.1% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 386,712 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,775,000 after buying an additional 77,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in AES by 75.9% during the third quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 362,651 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $7,275,000 after acquiring an additional 156,504 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AES Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of AES traded down $0.30 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $10.90. 6,829,465 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,874,435. The business has a 50 day moving average of $11.48 and a 200 day moving average of $14.47. The company has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a PE ratio of 7.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. AES has a 1-year low of $9.88 and a 1-year high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.46%. AES's dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

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.