Investors Buy Large Volume of Nordstrom Call Options (NYSE:JWN)

Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 16,675 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 228% compared to the average volume of 5,084 call options.

Insider Activity at Nordstrom

In other Nordstrom news, COO Alexis Depree sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.20, for a total transaction of $464,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 169,331 shares in the company, valued at $3,928,479.20. The trade was a 10.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 5.78% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nordstrom

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Nordstrom by 5.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,653,007 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $215,936,000 after acquiring an additional 579,001 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Nordstrom by 217.5% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,670 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 3,199 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its position in Nordstrom by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 90,144 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,828,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in Nordstrom in the first quarter worth about $419,000. Finally, Comerica Bank boosted its position in shares of Nordstrom by 59.9% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 75,806 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,537,000 after buying an additional 28,411 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on JWN. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Nordstrom from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays raised Nordstrom from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Nordstrom from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Nordstrom from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Nordstrom from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nordstrom currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.29.

Nordstrom Price Performance

Shares of Nordstrom stock opened at $22.62 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65. Nordstrom has a 12 month low of $14.80 and a 12 month high of $24.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.85 and a 200 day moving average of $22.23. The firm has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of 14.41 and a beta of 2.59.

Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The specialty retailer reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.11. Nordstrom had a negative net margin of 1.57% and a negative return on equity of 18.04%. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. Nordstrom’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Nordstrom will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nordstrom Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Nordstrom’s payout ratio is 48.41%.

Nordstrom Company Profile

Nordstrom, Inc, a fashion retailer, provides apparels, shoes, beauty, accessories, and home goods for women, men, young adults, and children. It offers a range of brand-name and private-label merchandise through various channels, such as Nordstrom branded stores and online at Nordstrom.com; Nordstrom.ca; Nordstrom stores; Nordstrom Rack stores; Nordstrom Locals; ASOS; Nordstromrack.com; mobile application; and clearance stores under the Last Chance name.