Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Foot Locker (NYSE:FL)

Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 18,397 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 129% compared to the typical daily volume of 8,029 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of Foot Locker in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Foot Locker from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Foot Locker from $34.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Foot Locker from $30.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Foot Locker from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.81.

Foot Locker Stock Down 5.7 %

Shares of NYSE:FL traded down $0.88 during trading on Friday, hitting $14.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,159,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,300,641. Foot Locker has a fifty-two week low of $14.35 and a fifty-two week high of $33.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $18.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of -3.20, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.55.

Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The athletic footwear retailer reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Foot Locker had a negative net margin of 5.24% and a positive return on equity of 2.91%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Foot Locker will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Foot Locker

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Foot Locker by 81.6% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,442 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Foot Locker during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Foot Locker during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Foot Locker by 819.2% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,629 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 2,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Foot Locker in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $58,000.

About Foot Locker

Foot Locker, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a footwear and apparel retailer in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the Middle East. Its brand portfolio includes Foot Locker, a brand comprising sneakers and apparel; Kids Foot Locker, which offers athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories for children; and Champs Sports that operates as a mall-based specialty athletic footwear and apparel retailer.