Teck Resources Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:TECK)

Teck Resources Ltd (NYSE:TECK) (TSE:TECK) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 8,672 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 86% compared to the average daily volume of 4,651 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TECK. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Teck Resources by 36.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,879,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $740,604,000 after purchasing an additional 4,474,637 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Teck Resources during the second quarter worth about $437,657,000. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Teck Resources by 16.1% during the second quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 157,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,402,000 after buying an additional 21,900 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Teck Resources by 37.3% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 166,334 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,300,000 after acquiring an additional 45,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Teck Resources by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,428,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $57,555,000 after acquiring an additional 80,300 shares in the last quarter. 78.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on TECK shares. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Teck Resources in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Veritas upgraded shares of Teck Resources from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of Teck Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Benchmark lifted their price objective on Teck Resources from $48.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Teck Resources in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.00.

Teck Resources Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE TECK traded up $0.56 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $56.02. 1,385,223 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,440,457. Teck Resources has a 12 month low of $28.32 and a 12 month high of $62.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.50. The company has a market capitalization of $26.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.73, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK) (TSE:TECK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.39. Teck Resources had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 12.98%.The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Teck Resources will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Teck Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Teck Resources’s payout ratio is presently 17.82%.

Teck Resources Company Profile

Teck Resources Ltd. is a diversified natural resource company headquartered in Canada that explores for, develops and produces a portfolio of metallic and energy commodities. Its core businesses center on copper, steelmaking (metallurgical) coal and zinc, with related smelting and refining activities. Teck supplies raw materials and intermediate products to global steelmakers, metals markets and industrial customers, and operates integrated mining and processing facilities as well as earlier-stage exploration and development projects.

The company’s operations and projects are located across multiple geographies, with a significant presence in western Canada and North America and additional exploration and development activities in Latin America.