V.F. Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:VFC)

V.F. Co. (NYSE:VFC – Get Rating) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 10,555 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 58% compared to the average daily volume of 6,696 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Benno O. Dorer purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $28.50 per share, for a total transaction of $285,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $285,000. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Benno O. Dorer purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $28.50 per share, for a total transaction of $285,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $285,000. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mark Samuel Hoplamazian acquired 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $28.04 per share, with a total value of $490,700.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 28,655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $803,486.20. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On V.F.

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of V.F. by 1.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,829,926 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,251,133,000 after buying an additional 686,237 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in V.F. by 1.3% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 26,308,313 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $786,882,000 after purchasing an additional 336,122 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in V.F. by 21.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,962,446 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $746,627,000 after purchasing an additional 4,404,458 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in V.F. by 6.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,490,021 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $369,023,000 after purchasing an additional 386,948 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in V.F. by 13.3% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,369,645 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $237,178,000 after purchasing an additional 631,732 shares during the period. 96.89% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VFC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush decreased their price objective on shares of V.F. from $35.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 27th. Credit Suisse Group downgraded shares of V.F. from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of V.F. from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 27th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of V.F. from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of V.F. from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, V.F. currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.05.

V.F. Price Performance

NYSE VFC opened at $30.06 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. V.F. has a 12-month low of $25.05 and a 12-month high of $72.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.83, a P/E/G ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 1.40.

V.F. (NYSE:VFC – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 26th. The textile maker reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. V.F. had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 29.99%. Analysts forecast that V.F. will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

V.F. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 12th were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 9th. This is a positive change from V.F.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.79%. V.F.’s payout ratio is 188.89%.

About V.F.

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V.F. Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, procurement, marketing, and distribution of branded lifestyle apparel, footwear, and related products for men, women, and children in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through three segments: Outdoor, Active, and Work.