Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF)

Key Points

• On Friday, Capital One Financial saw a significant increase in options trading, with investors purchasing 23,260 put options, representing an 83% rise from average daily volume.
• The company's recent earnings report revealed an EPS of $5.48, surpassing expectations, while quarterly revenue showed a 31.4% year-over-year increase.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Capital One Financial, with Wells Fargo raising theirs from $225 to $265, while other firms have also adjusted their projections.

Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE:COF) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 23,260 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 83% compared to the average daily volume of 12,701 put options.

Capital One Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:COF traded down $1.57 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $209.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 576,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,190,530. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.14, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.18. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $219.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $201.98. Capital One Financial has a fifty-two week low of $143.22 and a fifty-two week high of $232.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $5.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $3.55. The business had revenue of $12.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.72 billion. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 31.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Capital One Financial will post 15.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Capital One Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Capital One Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 123.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on COF. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Capital One Financial in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Capital One Financial from $225.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Capital One Financial from $215.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Capital One Financial from $276.00 to $266.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Capital One Financial from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $252.78.

Insider Activity

In other Capital One Financial news, CAO Timothy P. Golden sold 3,462 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.28, for a total value of $727,989.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,987 shares in the company, valued at $1,889,786.36. This trade represents a 27.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Robert M. Alexander sold 10,114 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.86, for a total transaction of $2,304,576.04. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 68,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,655,577.02. This trade represents a 12.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 23,298 shares of company stock valued at $5,103,824. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Capital One Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its position in shares of Capital One Financial by 588,668.3% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 117,447,497 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $24,988,129,000 after acquiring an additional 117,427,549 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Capital One Financial by 74.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,380,913 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $11,995,603,000 after purchasing an additional 24,129,990 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Capital One Financial by 63.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,780,128 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,910,500,000 after purchasing an additional 10,776,843 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Capital One Financial during the second quarter worth $1,701,511,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Capital One Financial by 64.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,008,841 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,970,628,000 after acquiring an additional 5,474,328 shares in the last quarter. 89.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Capital One Financial Company Profile

Capital One Financial Corporation operates as the financial services holding company for the Capital One, National Association, which engages in the provision of various financial products and services in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It operates through three segments: Credit Card, Consumer Banking, and Commercial Banking.

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