DuPont de Nemours Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:DD)

DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (NYSE:DD) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 5,967 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 56% compared to the typical volume of 3,819 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DuPont de Nemours

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in shares of DuPont de Nemours in the second quarter valued at approximately $83,540,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in DuPont de Nemours in the 2nd quarter valued at $67,665,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of DuPont de Nemours by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,410,485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $556,751,000 after purchasing an additional 570,703 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of DuPont de Nemours during the 3rd quarter worth $42,810,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in shares of DuPont de Nemours by 48.3% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,415,900 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $126,171,000 after purchasing an additional 461,400 shares during the period. 73.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of DuPont de Nemours from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on DuPont de Nemours from $98.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com raised DuPont de Nemours from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on DuPont de Nemours from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on DuPont de Nemours from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.25.

DuPont de Nemours Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DD traded up $0.07 on Thursday, hitting $77.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 246,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,431,925. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $82.46 and a 200-day moving average of $81.95. The company has a market capitalization of $32.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.34. DuPont de Nemours has a 12-month low of $61.14 and a 12-month high of $90.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.28 and a quick ratio of 1.49.

DuPont de Nemours (NYSE:DD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.20 billion. DuPont de Nemours had a return on equity of 6.64% and a net margin of 6.35%. DuPont de Nemours’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that DuPont de Nemours will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

DuPont de Nemours Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. DuPont de Nemours’s payout ratio is 80.00%.

About DuPont de Nemours

DuPont de Nemours, Inc provides technology-based materials and solutions in the United States, Canada, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through Electronics & Industrial, Water & Protection, and Corporate & Other segments. The Electronics & Industrial segment supplies materials and solutions for the fabrication of semiconductors and integrated circuits.