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

V.F. Corporation (NYSE:VFC) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 27,282 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 71% compared to the typical volume of 15,920 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VFC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of V.F. from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 27th. Robert W. Baird set a $25.00 price target on V.F. in a research note on Wednesday. Guggenheim began coverage on V.F. in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of V.F. in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on V.F. from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.91.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On V.F.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its stake in shares of V.F. by 43.4% during the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 4,938,084 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $71,257,000 after buying an additional 1,495,148 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of V.F. by 104.7% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 567,886 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $6,673,000 after acquiring an additional 290,444 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its position in V.F. by 61.1% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 481,091 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $5,653,000 after acquiring an additional 182,495 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in V.F. by 21.3% in the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 573,649 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $6,740,000 after purchasing an additional 100,680 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in V.F. by 115.2% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 113,951 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,644,000 after purchasing an additional 60,998 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.84% of the company’s stock.

V.F. Price Performance

Shares of VFC traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $18.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,774,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,220,536. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. V.F. has a one year low of $9.41 and a one year high of $29.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.67. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.18.

V.F. (NYSE:VFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The textile maker reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.10. V.F. had a return on equity of 20.34% and a net margin of 0.95%.The business had revenue of $2.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.73 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. V.F.’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that V.F. will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

V.F. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. V.F.’s payout ratio is 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.