Investors Purchase High 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. Investors acquired 3,593 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 317% compared to the average daily volume of 862 put options.

Institutional Trading of Wolverine World Wide

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Wolverine World Wide Stock Performance

Wolverine World Wide stock traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $13.99. The stock had a trading volume of 618,630 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,236,427. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 25.35 and a beta of 1.93. Wolverine World Wide has a 52-week low of $9.07 and a 52-week high of $24.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $17.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.03. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The textile maker reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.42. The firm had revenue of $494.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $485.74 million. Wolverine World Wide had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 26.81%. The company’s revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.30) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Wolverine World Wide will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Wolverine World Wide Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Wolverine World Wide’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.73%.

Wolverine World Wide Company Profile

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.