Investors Purchase Large Volume of AES Put Options (NYSE:AES)

Key Points

• Investors showed significant interest in AES Corporation by purchasing 67,840 put options, reflecting a 247% increase from average volumes.
• Price targets for AES stock have been adjusted by several analysts, with JPMorgan raising its target from $14.00 to $15.00, while Jefferies downgraded it from $10.00 to $9.00.
• AES recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.176 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 5.5%.

The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 67,840 put options on the stock. Thisisanincreaseofapproximately247% compared to the typical volume of 19,550 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on AES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of AES from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of AES from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $9.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of AES from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AES from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of AES in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AES has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $24.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AES

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AES. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AES during the first quarter valued at about $35,000. CVA Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 200.6% during the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 2,169 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of AES during the first quarter valued at about $40,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 760.4% during the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 2,958 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC increased its position in shares of AES by 235.4% during the first quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 3,595 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 2,523 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AES Stock Performance

AES stock traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $12.78. The stock had a trading volume of 2,496,593 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,995,277. AES has a 12 month low of $9.46 and a 12 month high of $20.30. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $12.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.10 billion, a PE ratio of 8.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.46.

AES (NYSE:AES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.12. AES had a return on equity of 19.02% and a net margin of 8.42%.The business had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that AES will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AES Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. AES's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.30%.

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.

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