Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Edison International (NYSE:EIX)

Edison International (NYSE:EIX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 8,183 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 837% compared to the average daily volume of 873 put options.

Insider Transactions at Edison International

In related news, VP Adam S. Umanoff sold 25,619 shares of Edison International stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.05, for a total value of $2,127,657.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Edison International

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its stake in Edison International by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 18,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,513,000 after purchasing an additional 3,495 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic grew its position in shares of Edison International by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 19,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,533,000 after buying an additional 4,500 shares during the period. Centre Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Edison International by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC now owns 2,656 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Edison International by 30.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 803 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Edison International by 171.5% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the period. 88.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EIX. Bank of America started coverage on Edison International in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on Edison International from $96.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Edison International from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays raised shares of Edison International from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $91.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Edison International from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.00.

Edison International Stock Performance

NYSE EIX opened at $69.41 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. Edison International has a twelve month low of $63.15 and a twelve month high of $88.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.73.

Edison International (NYSE:EIX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.01 billion. Edison International had a return on equity of 13.17% and a net margin of 8.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Edison International will post 4.94 EPS for the current year.

Edison International Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 7th will be paid a $0.8275 dividend. This is a positive change from Edison International’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.77%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 7th. Edison International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 97.07%.

Edison International Company Profile

Edison International, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation and distribution of electric power. The company supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 50,000 square mile area of southern California to residential, commercial, industrial, public authorities, agricultural, and other sectors.