Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Dana Call Options (NYSE:DAN)

Dana Incorporated (NYSE:DAN) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 14,128 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,781% compared to the average daily volume of 751 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DAN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays raised shares of Dana from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $12.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Dana from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded Dana from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $9.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com cut Dana from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Dana from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $9.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.14.

Dana Stock Up 15.4 %

Shares of NYSE:DAN traded up $2.04 on Friday, hitting $15.27. 3,169,873 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,520,024. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.49. Dana has a 1-year low of $7.58 and a 1-year high of $16.11. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of -138.94 and a beta of 2.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $11.29 and its 200 day moving average is $10.83.

Dana (NYSE:DAN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The auto parts company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.57 billion. Dana had a negative net margin of 0.15% and a positive return on equity of 3.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Dana will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dana

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Dana by 118.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,702 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,464 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Dana by 484.6% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,695 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 2,234 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Dana during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $250,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Dana by 81.8% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 58,274 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $615,000 after purchasing an additional 26,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P acquired a new position in shares of Dana in the third quarter valued at approximately $346,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.79% of the company’s stock.

About Dana

Dana Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, provides power-conveyance and energy-management solutions for vehicles and machinery in North America, Europe, South America, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through four segments: Light Vehicle Drive Systems, Commercial Vehicle Drive and Motion Systems, Off-Highway Drive and Motion Systems, and Power Technologies.