Traders Purchase Large Volume of Booz Allen Hamilton Put Options (NYSE:BAH)

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 7,063 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 150% compared to the average volume of 2,829 put options.

Booz Allen Hamilton Stock Performance

Shares of BAH opened at $104.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. Booz Allen Hamilton has a 52-week low of $101.05 and a 52-week high of $190.59. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $142.10. The company has a market capitalization of $13.20 billion, a PE ratio of 15.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.56.

Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) last announced 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 net margin of 7.39% and a return on equity of 68.97%. Equities research analysts predict that Booz Allen Hamilton will post 6.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booz Allen Hamilton Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.55 dividend. This is a boost from Booz Allen Hamilton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Booz Allen Hamilton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booz Allen Hamilton

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in 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 worth $581,516,000 after acquiring an additional 501,725 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Booz Allen Hamilton by 15.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 371,390 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Booz Allen Hamilton by 2.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 58,038 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Booz Allen Hamilton by 179.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,135,426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Booz Allen Hamilton by 61.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 590,655 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from $180.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. William Blair downgraded shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James raised shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Booz Allen Hamilton to a “strong-buy” rating in a research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $158.27.

Booz Allen Hamilton Company Profile

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.