Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:AY)

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc (NASDAQ:AY) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 3,127 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 448% compared to the average daily volume of 571 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure from $24.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.67.

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure Stock Up 3.5 %

AY traded up $0.65 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $19.16. 334,210 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 899,657. Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure has a twelve month low of $16.35 and a twelve month high of $28.25. The stock has a market cap of $2.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $18.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.62.

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure (NASDAQ:AY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by $0.25. Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure had a net margin of 4.43% and a return on equity of 2.91%. The firm had revenue of $241.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $243.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.03 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure will post 0.5 EPS for the current year.

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 12th were paid a $0.445 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 11th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.29%. Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 423.82%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. PFG Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure by 104.9% in the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 45,498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $841,000 after acquiring an additional 23,292 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure by 26.6% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 243,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,500,000 after purchasing an additional 51,106 shares during the period. American Institute for Advanced Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure during the first quarter worth about $203,000. Insight Folios Inc lifted its position in Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure by 7.1% during the first quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 24,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $455,000 after purchasing an additional 1,640 shares during the period. Finally, Abundance Wealth Counselors lifted its position in Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure by 23.1% during the first quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors now owns 32,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $594,000 after purchasing an additional 6,045 shares during the period. 40.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc owns, manages, and invests in renewable energy, storage, natural gas and heat, electric transmission lines, and water assets in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company was formerly known as Atlantica Yield plc and changed its name to Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc in May 2020.