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

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure plc (NASDAQ:AY) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 3,127 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 448% compared to the average volume of 571 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. National Bank Financial lowered shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report 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 report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rational Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure by 740.8% in the third quarter. Rational Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,926 shares in the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure during the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure by 37.1% during the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,578 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure during the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group lifted its stake in Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure by 71.4% during the fourth quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 6,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. 40.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AY traded up $0.65 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $19.16. 334,210 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 899,657. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.57. Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure has a 12 month low of $16.35 and a 12 month high of $28.25. The company has a 50 day moving average of $18.18 and a 200-day moving average of $18.95. The stock has a market capitalization 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.

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure (NASDAQ:AY) last posted its earnings results on Friday, March 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $243.81 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.03 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure will post 0.5 EPS for the current year.

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure Announces Dividend

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

Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure Company Profile

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.