Booz Allen Hamilton Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BAH)

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 7,063 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 150% compared to the average daily volume of 2,829 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booz Allen Hamilton

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,518,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $581,516,000 after buying an additional 501,725 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Booz Allen Hamilton by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,804,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $360,957,000 after purchasing an additional 371,390 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Booz Allen Hamilton by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,341,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $381,898,000 after purchasing an additional 58,038 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Booz Allen Hamilton by 179.7% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,767,129 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135,426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Booz Allen Hamilton by 61.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,552,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $199,770,000 after purchasing an additional 590,655 shares during the last quarter. 91.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Booz Allen Hamilton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAH opened at $103.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.57. Booz Allen Hamilton has a 1-year low of $101.82 and a 1-year high of $190.59. The company has a market capitalization of $13.12 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $121.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $142.47.

Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.07. Booz Allen Hamilton had a return on equity of 68.97% and a net margin of 7.39%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Booz Allen Hamilton will post 6.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booz Allen Hamilton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Booz Allen Hamilton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Booz Allen Hamilton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James upgraded Booz Allen Hamilton from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays upgraded Booz Allen Hamilton from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Booz Allen Hamilton from $200.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Booz Allen Hamilton from $180.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Booz Allen Hamilton to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $158.27.

About Booz Allen Hamilton

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation provides management and technology consulting, analytics, engineering, digital solutions, mission operations, and cyber services to governments, corporations, and not-for-profit organizations in the United States and internationally. It focuses on artificial intelligence services comprising of machine learning, predictive modeling, automation and decision analytics, and quantum computing.