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

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders purchased 23,067 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 82% compared to the average volume of 12,676 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AES. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of AES from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays decreased their price objective 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. Mizuho dropped their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised AES from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $13.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AES. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of AES by 190.3% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,201 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in AES in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. WR Wealth Planners LLC increased its stake in AES by 93.3% in the 4th quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC raised its position in AES by 200.6% during the 1st quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 2,169 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company's stock.

AES Stock Performance

Shares of AES stock traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $10.27. 1,208,592 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,367,295. AES has a 12-month low of $9.57 and a 12-month high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.81. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $11.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.74.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 previous year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that AES will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.86%. AES's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

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.