Investors Buy High Volume of Put Options on Blue Owl Capital (NYSE:OWL)

Key Points

• Traders bought 64,863 put options on Blue Owl, a 36% jump above the typical daily put volume of 47,638, indicating elevated bearish positioning in the options market.
• Several analysts have lowered targets recently (e.g., BMO to $11, Oppenheimer to $16, Piper Sandler to $12.50) but the consensus remains a Moderate Buy with an average target of $15.97.
• Blue Owl pays a quarterly dividend that equates to a 10.7% yield, yet its dividend payout ratio is an extreme 900%, suggesting the dividend may be unsustainable.

Blue Owl Capital Inc. (NYSE:OWL - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 64,863 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 36% compared to the typical daily volume of 47,638 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on OWL shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Blue Owl Capital in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Blue Owl Capital from $15.00 to $11.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Blue Owl Capital from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Wolfe Research set a $20.00 target price on shares of Blue Owl Capital in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Blue Owl Capital from $15.00 to $12.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $15.97.

Blue Owl Capital Price Performance

Blue Owl Capital stock traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $8.41. The company had a trading volume of 15,514,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,382,625. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $10.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.72. The company has a market capitalization of $13.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.21. Blue Owl Capital has a 12-month low of $7.95 and a 12-month high of $21.08.

Blue Owl Capital (NYSE:OWL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. Blue Owl Capital had a net margin of 2.75% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The firm had revenue of $701.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $712.75 million. On average, analysts expect that Blue Owl Capital will post 0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blue Owl Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th were issued a $0.225 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.7%. Blue Owl Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 900.00%.

Institutional Trading of Blue Owl Capital

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Blue Owl Capital by 7.3% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,011 shares of the company's stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 685 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blue Owl Capital by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,149 shares of the company's stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 699 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blue Owl Capital by 20.3% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 4,967 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 838 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Blue Owl Capital by 117.0% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,608 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 867 shares during the period. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blue Owl Capital by 3.6% during the third quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 25,465 shares of the company's stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 884 shares during the period. 35.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Blue Owl Capital

Blue Owl Capital is a global alternative asset manager that focuses on private credit, direct lending and equity-related strategies for institutional investors. Headquartered in New York, the firm develops and manages a range of private markets products designed to provide capital solutions to middle-market and larger corporate borrowers, as well as liquidity and partnership arrangements with private equity firms and other alternative managers.

Its core activities include direct lending and credit strategies that provide senior, unitranche and other structured loan products to companies across industries.

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