Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN)

Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 16,675 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 228% compared to the average daily volume of 5,084 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JWN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Nordstrom from $13.00 to $14.50 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Nordstrom from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Nordstrom from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Nordstrom from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Nordstrom from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nordstrom presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.65.

Nordstrom Stock Down 8.1 %

Shares of Nordstrom stock traded down $2.01 on Wednesday, hitting $22.62. The company had a trading volume of 7,660,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,062,666. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87 and a beta of 2.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 1.07. Nordstrom has a 1 year low of $14.80 and a 1 year high of $24.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.86 and a 200-day moving average of $22.22.

Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 26th. The specialty retailer reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.11. Nordstrom had a negative return on equity of 21.26% and a negative net margin of 1.44%. The business had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nordstrom will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Nordstrom Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. Nordstrom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Alexis Depree sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total transaction of $464,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 169,331 shares in the company, valued at $3,928,479.20. This trade represents a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.78% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nordstrom

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nordstrom during the third quarter valued at approximately $6,248,000. Olympiad Research LP purchased a new stake in shares of Nordstrom during the 3rd quarter valued at $508,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Nordstrom during the 2nd quarter worth $1,174,000. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Nordstrom by 59.9% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 75,806 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,537,000 after buying an additional 28,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Nordstrom by 66.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,661,227 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $35,251,000 after buying an additional 661,769 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.73% of the company’s stock.

Nordstrom Company Profile

Nordstrom, Inc, a fashion retailer, provides apparels, shoes, beauty, accessories, and home goods for women, men, young adults, and children. It offers a range of brand-name and private-label merchandise through various channels, such as Nordstrom branded stores and online at Nordstrom.com; Nordstrom.ca; Nordstrom stores; Nordstrom Rack stores; Nordstrom Locals; ASOS; Nordstromrack.com; mobile application; and clearance stores under the Last Chance name.