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

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 7,063 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 150% compared to the average daily volume of 2,829 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Booz Allen Hamilton from $210.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 report on Wednesday, February 26th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from $185.00 to $155.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. William Blair cut Booz Allen Hamilton from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Raymond James raised Booz Allen Hamilton from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Booz Allen Hamilton currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $158.27.

Institutional Trading of Booz Allen Hamilton

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAH. Bogart Wealth LLC grew its position in Booz Allen Hamilton by 387.5% during the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 195 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Booz Allen Hamilton by 144.1% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 227 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Booz Allen Hamilton during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Booz Allen Hamilton by 3,314.3% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 239 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. 91.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Booz Allen Hamilton Stock Down 7.0 %

Shares of Booz Allen Hamilton stock traded down $7.88 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $104.83. The company had a trading volume of 1,902,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,455,213. The company’s 50-day moving average is $122.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.75. Booz Allen Hamilton has a twelve month low of $101.82 and a twelve month high of $190.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $13.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.56.

Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.07. Booz Allen Hamilton had a return on equity of 68.97% and a net margin of 7.39%. Analysts anticipate that Booz Allen Hamilton will post 6.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booz Allen Hamilton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. 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. Booz Allen Hamilton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.79%.

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.