Morgan Stanley lowered its rating on AA to "underweight"
Morgan Stanley downgraded Alcoa Corp (NYSE:AA) to "underweight" from "equal weight" earlier today, with the brokerage noting the aluminum name could miss certain profit metrics over next few quarters. Plus, Credit Suisse cut its price target to $46 from $50.
Last seen down 5.1% at $33.12, Alcoa stock is moving back toward its May 32, nearly two-year low of $31.14. The $38 region has kept a tight lid on AA since late April, while overhead pressure at the 60-day moving average has been in place since March. Year-to-date, shares are down 26.9%.
Alcoa stock has also sparked the interest of options traders recently. The security made an appearance on Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White's list of S&P 400 (SP400) stocks that attracted the highest weekly options volume over the last 10 days. The equity saw 95,698 calls and 68,767 puts traded, with the July 40 call seeing the most action.
Options traders have been much more bullish than usual. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), AA sports a 50-day call/put volume ratio of 3.15 that sits higher than 98% of readings from the last year.
It's also worth noting AA boasts affordably priced premiums. More specifically, the security's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 50% ranks at the extremely low 9tth percentile of annual readings.