Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on VF (NYSE:VFC)

VF Corporation (NYSE:VFC) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders bought 21,123 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 60% compared to the average volume of 13,237 call options.

VF Trading Down 3.4 %

NYSE VFC opened at $15.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.17. The company has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a PE ratio of -13.34, a P/E/G ratio of 6.77 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31. VF has a 12 month low of $11.00 and a 12 month high of $29.02.

VF (NYSE:VFC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The textile maker reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.28. VF had a positive return on equity of 14.86% and a negative net margin of 4.63%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that VF will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

VF Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. VF’s payout ratio is -30.25%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its stake in VF by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 3,874,781 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $83,153,000 after acquiring an additional 211,440 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its stake in VF by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 256,531 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $5,505,000 after acquiring an additional 16,431 shares during the period. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. acquired a new position in VF in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,878,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its stake in VF by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 6,017 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 3,008 shares during the period. Finally, CKW Financial Group grew its stake in VF by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 2,200 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. 86.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on VFC. UBS Group boosted their price objective on VF from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on VF from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on VF from $14.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on VF from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on VF from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.90.

About VF

VF Corp. engages in the business of producing and marketing apparel, footwear, and accessories. It operates through the following segments: Outdoor, Active, Work, and Other. The Outdoor segment includes authentic outdoor-based lifestyle brands such as performance-based and outdoor apparel, footwear, and equipment.