Globe Life Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:GL)

Globe Life Inc. (NYSE:GL) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 7,849 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 120% compared to the average daily volume of 3,570 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Globe Life from $125.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Globe Life in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Globe Life from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Globe Life from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Globe Life from $146.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $126.44.

Globe Life Stock Performance

Globe Life stock opened at $66.74 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $111.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $116.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.05 and a current ratio of 0.05. Globe Life has a fifty-two week low of $38.95 and a fifty-two week high of $132.00. The company has a market capitalization of $6.28 billion, a PE ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 0.69.

Globe Life (NYSE:GL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $2.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.73 by $0.15. Globe Life had a net margin of 17.82% and a return on equity of 24.25%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Globe Life will post 11.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Globe Life Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. This is an increase from Globe Life’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Globe Life’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Globe Life by 1.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,881,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,183,175,000 after purchasing an additional 181,824 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Globe Life by 37.0% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,308,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $735,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,973,186 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Globe Life by 0.9% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,520,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $655,963,000 after purchasing an additional 57,587 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Globe Life by 4.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,247,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $461,884,000 after purchasing an additional 168,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Globe Life by 2.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,960,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,163,000 after buying an additional 84,122 shares in the last quarter. 81.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Globe Life

Globe Life Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides various life and supplemental health insurance products, and annuities to lower middle- and middle-income families in the United States. The company operates in four segments: Life Insurance, Supplemental Health Insurance, Annuities, and Investments.