Nordstrom Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:JWN)

Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 17,013 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 264% compared to the typical volume of 4,671 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Nordstrom by 355.9% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,272 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management grew its position in Nordstrom by 90.9% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 2,100 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Nordstrom during the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,000. Vestcor Inc purchased a new stake in Nordstrom during the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Nordstrom by 57.7% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,839 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Nordstrom from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $14.50 to $24.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Nordstrom from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Nordstrom from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on shares of Nordstrom in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Argus lowered shares of Nordstrom from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.17.

Nordstrom Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE JWN opened at $24.31 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65. The firm has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a PE ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 2.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $24.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.23. Nordstrom has a 52 week low of $16.78 and a 52 week high of $24.99.

Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The specialty retailer reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.34 billion. Nordstrom had a negative net margin of 1.57% and a negative return on equity of 18.04%. Nordstrom’s revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nordstrom will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nordstrom Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Nordstrom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.41%.

Nordstrom Company Profile

Nordstrom, Inc, a fashion retailer, provides apparels, shoes, beauty, accessories, and home goods for women, men, young adults, and children. It offers a range of brand-name and private-label merchandise through various channels, such as Nordstrom branded stores and online at Nordstrom.com; Nordstrom.ca; Nordstrom stores; Nordstrom Rack stores; Nordstrom Locals; ASOS; Nordstromrack.com; mobile application; and clearance stores under the Last Chance name.