Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Wolverine World Wide (NYSE:WWW)

Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE:WWW) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 3,593 put options on the company. This is an increase of 317% compared to the average volume of 862 put options.

Institutional Trading of Wolverine World Wide

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Wolverine World Wide in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Wolverine World Wide by 88.8% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,450 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 682 shares in the last quarter. Natixis purchased a new position in Wolverine World Wide in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Wolverine World Wide during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Wolverine World Wide by 43.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,303 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,311 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.25% of the company’s stock.

Wolverine World Wide Price Performance

Shares of WWW opened at $14.63 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.60 and a beta of 1.93. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.99. Wolverine World Wide has a twelve month low of $9.07 and a twelve month high of $24.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79.

Wolverine World Wide (NYSE:WWW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42. The company had revenue of $494.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $485.74 million. Wolverine World Wide had a return on equity of 26.81% and a net margin of 2.73%. Wolverine World Wide’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.30) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Wolverine World Wide will post 1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wolverine World Wide Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Wolverine World Wide’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WWW shares. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Wolverine World Wide in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Wolverine World Wide from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut Wolverine World Wide from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Wolverine World Wide from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Wolverine World Wide from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $21.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wolverine World Wide presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.50.

About Wolverine World Wide

Wolverine World Wide, Inc designs, manufactures, sources, markets, licenses, and distributes footwear, apparel, and accessories in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Canada and Latin America. It operates through Active Group and Work Group segments. The company offers casual footwear and apparel; performance outdoor and athletic footwear and apparel; kids' footwear; industrial work boots and apparel; and uniform shoes and boots.