The PNC Financial Services Group Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:PNC)

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:PNC - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 5,027 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 99% compared to the typical volume of 2,529 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PNC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HSBC upgraded The PNC Financial Services Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $206.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded The PNC Financial Services Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of The PNC Financial Services Group from $180.00 to $172.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of The PNC Financial Services Group from $179.00 to $178.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of The PNC Financial Services Group from $205.00 to $195.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $202.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at The PNC Financial Services Group

In other news, Director Martin Pfinsgraff bought 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $158.22 per share, for a total transaction of $158,220.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 2,009 shares of the company's stock, valued at $317,863.98. This trade represents a 99.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO William S. Demchak sold 1,242 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.15, for a total transaction of $212,568.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 567,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at $97,093,223.85. The trade was a 0.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,396 shares of company stock worth $2,747,698 in the last 90 days. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PNC. Norges Bank bought a new position in The PNC Financial Services Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,352,151,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of The PNC Financial Services Group by 26.1% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,502,467 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,670,249,000 after buying an additional 1,964,157 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The PNC Financial Services Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $306,905,000. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of The PNC Financial Services Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $299,864,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of The PNC Financial Services Group by 19,279.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,149,008 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $201,961,000 after acquiring an additional 1,143,079 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.53% of the company's stock.

The PNC Financial Services Group Stock Performance

NYSE:PNC traded down $1.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $173.86. The stock had a trading volume of 4,161,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,055,281. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.06. The PNC Financial Services Group has a 52 week low of $145.12 and a 52 week high of $216.26.

The PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.04. The PNC Financial Services Group had a return on equity of 11.12% and a net margin of 17.10%. The company had revenue of $5.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.50 billion. On average, research analysts expect that The PNC Financial Services Group will post 15.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The PNC Financial Services Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. The PNC Financial Services Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.20%.

About The PNC Financial Services Group

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc operates as a diversified financial services company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail Banking, Corporate & Institutional Banking, and Asset Management Group segments. The company's Retail Banking segment offers checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposit; residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, auto loans, credit cards, education loans, and personal and small business loans and lines of credit; and brokerage, insurance, and investment and cash management services.