Investors Purchase High Volume of AES Call Options (NYSE:AES)

The AES Co. (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 28,313 call options on the company. This is an increase of 138% compared to the average volume of 11,907 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of AES by 8.4% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 67,501 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,186,000 after acquiring an additional 5,205 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in AES by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,674 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $504,000 after buying an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in shares of AES by 58.6% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 120,496 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,117,000 after buying an additional 44,529 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AES by 97.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 595,459 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $10,462,000 after acquiring an additional 294,167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MBB Public Markets I LLC lifted its stake in AES by 412.1% in the second quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 53,575 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $941,000 after acquiring an additional 43,113 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AES. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of AES from $24.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC assumed coverage on AES in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Susquehanna lowered their target price on AES from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America assumed coverage on AES in a report on Monday, November 25th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $18.80.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES traded down $0.44 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $11.01. 22,664,502 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,738,836. AES has a 12 month low of $10.81 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The stock has a market cap of $7.82 billion, a PE ratio of 7.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $12.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.57.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that AES will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

AES Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.40%. This is an increase from AES's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AES's payout ratio is presently 47.92%.

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.