Foot Locker Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:FL)

Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 15,659 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 79% compared to the typical volume of 8,747 put options.

Institutional Trading of Foot Locker

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Foot Locker by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,505,006 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $228,589,000 after buying an additional 210,832 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Foot Locker by 88.6% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,323,597 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $115,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500,396 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Foot Locker by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,174,832 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $44,765,000 after purchasing an additional 136,836 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Foot Locker by 20.2% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,290,707 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock valued at $32,299,000 after purchasing an additional 384,301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Foot Locker by 17.0% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,940,528 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock valued at $27,361,000 after purchasing an additional 281,322 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on FL shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Foot Locker from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Foot Locker from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Foot Locker from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Foot Locker from $22.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Foot Locker from $14.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.19.

Foot Locker Price Performance

Shares of FL stock traded down $0.13 during trading on Monday, hitting $23.73. The company had a trading volume of 5,094,728 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,084,664. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $13.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Foot Locker has a 52 week low of $11.00 and a 52 week high of $33.94.

Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The athletic footwear retailer reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.13. Foot Locker had a negative net margin of 5.24% and a positive return on equity of 2.91%. The firm had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Foot Locker will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Foot Locker Company Profile

Foot Locker, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a footwear and apparel retailer in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the Middle East. Its brand portfolio includes Foot Locker, a brand comprising sneakers and apparel; Kids Foot Locker, which offers athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories for children; and Champs Sports that operates as a mall-based specialty athletic footwear and apparel retailer.