V.F. Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:VFC)

V.F. Corporation (NYSE:VFC) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 23,595 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 51% compared to the average volume of 15,583 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on VFC. KGI Securities set a $14.50 price objective on shares of V.F. and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird raised V.F. from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Zacks Research raised V.F. from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on V.F. from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of V.F. in a research report on Monday, December 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.25.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On V.F.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VFC. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its holdings in V.F. by 43.4% during the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 4,938,084 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $71,257,000 after buying an additional 1,495,148 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised its holdings in shares of V.F. by 22.0% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 586,877 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $8,469,000 after acquiring an additional 105,786 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of V.F. by 1.9% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 578,767 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $8,352,000 after acquiring an additional 10,881 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of V.F. by 21.3% during the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 573,649 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $6,740,000 after acquiring an additional 100,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of V.F. by 115.2% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 113,951 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,644,000 after acquiring an additional 60,998 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.84% of the company’s stock.

V.F. Stock Up 0.8%

VFC opened at $18.17 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $7.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.60, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.67. V.F. has a one year low of $9.41 and a one year high of $29.02. The business’s fifty day moving average is $15.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.95.

V.F. (NYSE:VFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The textile maker reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. V.F. had a return on equity of 20.34% and a net margin of 0.95%.The business’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Analysts anticipate that V.F. will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

V.F. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 10th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 10th. V.F.’s payout ratio is currently 163.64%.

V.F. Company Profile

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.