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

The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 5,561 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 31% compared to the average daily volume of 4,235 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AES

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in AES by 99.8% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,280,668 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,215,000 after buying an additional 7,133,230 shares during the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT increased its stake in shares of AES by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT now owns 6,898,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $98,922,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,530 shares during the period. Kryger Capital LLC purchased a new position in AES during the first quarter worth about $31,702,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in AES by 247.6% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 968,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,185,000 after purchasing an additional 689,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC increased its position in AES by 4,710.9% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 542,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,780,000 after purchasing an additional 531,251 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AES has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Susquehanna lowered shares of AES from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $16.00 to $15.00 in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AES in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Argus downgraded AES from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.71.

AES Stock Performance

NYSE AES traded up $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $14.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,428,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,184,341. AES has a twelve month low of $12.33 and a twelve month high of $17.65. The firm has a market cap of $10.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.95 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $14.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.73.

AES (NYSE:AES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.11 billion. AES had a return on equity of 22.66% and a net margin of 10.78%. As a group, analysts anticipate that AES will post 2.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. AES’s dividend payout ratio is 37.43%.

AES Company Profile

AES Corporation is a global energy company focused on the generation and distribution of electricity across diversified markets. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, AES develops, builds and operates power plants and distribution systems that serve residential, industrial and commercial customers. The company’s portfolio includes thermal, renewable and battery energy storage facilities designed to deliver reliable and sustainable electricity solutions.

Through its subsidiaries, AES operates a balanced mix of power generation assets, including natural gas, coal and renewables such as solar and wind.