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

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 7,063 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 150% compared to the average volume of 2,829 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAH. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 3.3% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,822 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC increased its holdings in Booz Allen Hamilton by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 1,660 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its position in Booz Allen Hamilton by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 1,816 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Booz Allen Hamilton by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,160 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $535,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,171 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,309,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.82% of the company's stock.

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Booz Allen Hamilton Price Performance

Shares of BAH traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $104.22. The company had a trading volume of 1,030,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,538,336. The company has a market capitalization of $13.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.57. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $121.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.89. Booz Allen Hamilton has a 1-year low of $101.05 and a 1-year high of $190.59.

Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 7.39% and a return on equity of 68.97%. Analysts expect that Booz Allen Hamilton will post 6.44 EPS for the current year.

Booz Allen Hamilton Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is a boost from Booz Allen Hamilton's previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Booz Allen Hamilton's payout ratio is 32.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAH has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays upgraded shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $140.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Booz Allen Hamilton from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com lowered Booz Allen Hamilton from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Raymond James upgraded Booz Allen Hamilton from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $150.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, William Blair cut Booz Allen Hamilton from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $158.27.

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.