BHP Group Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BHP)

BHP Group Limited Sponsored ADR (NYSE:BHP) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 5,228 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 110% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,486 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BHP Group by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 13,856 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in BHP Group by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,150 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. NBT Bank N A NY grew its position in BHP Group by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 2,353 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital grew its position in BHP Group by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 6,788 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gleason Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BHP Group by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Gleason Group Inc. now owns 14,435 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $701,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 3.79% of the company’s stock.

BHP Group Stock Performance

BHP opened at $50.41 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $127.81 billion, a PE ratio of 11.46 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.35 and a 200-day moving average of $48.95. BHP Group has a 52-week low of $39.73 and a 52-week high of $63.21.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BHP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of BHP Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Argus lowered shares of BHP Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BHP Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.00.

About BHP Group

BHP Group Limited operates as a resources company in Australia, Europe, China, Japan, India, South Korea, the rest of Asia, North America, South America, and internationally. The company operates through Copper, Iron Ore, and Coal segments. It engages in the mining of copper, uranium, gold, zinc, lead, molybdenum, silver, iron ore, cobalt, and metallurgical and energy coal.