Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB)

Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:DNB - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 2,620 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 105% compared to the typical volume of 1,276 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $9.15 price target (down from $11.00) on shares of Dun & Bradstreet in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $12.00 price target on shares of Dun & Bradstreet in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Dun & Bradstreet in a research report on Sunday. They set a "hold" rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Dun & Bradstreet from $12.80 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $14.00 price objective on shares of Dun & Bradstreet in a report on Monday, March 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $11.86.

Dun & Bradstreet Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DNB traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $9.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,462,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,363,656. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $8.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -152.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.14. Dun & Bradstreet has a 12-month low of $7.78 and a 12-month high of $12.95.

Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.05). Dun & Bradstreet had a positive return on equity of 11.29% and a negative net margin of 1.20%. The firm had revenue of $631.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $658.04 million. On average, analysts forecast that Dun & Bradstreet will post 0.96 EPS for the current year.

Dun & Bradstreet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Dun & Bradstreet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -333.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman William P. Foley II sold 2,500,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.99, for a total value of $22,475,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 8,109,644 shares in the company, valued at $72,905,699.56. This trade represents a 23.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 10.44% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DNB. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Dun & Bradstreet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 57,773,925 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $719,863,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275,959 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Dun & Bradstreet by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,622,318 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $219,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,350,263 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Dun & Bradstreet by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,575,015 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $156,685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,109,940 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP lifted its stake in Dun & Bradstreet by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 9,213,826 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $114,804,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crescent Grove Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Dun & Bradstreet by 8.1% in the first quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 6,678,062 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $59,702,000 after acquiring an additional 498,558 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.68% of the company's stock.

Dun & Bradstreet Company Profile

Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc engages in providing business decisioning data and analytics solutions. The firm is involved in providing information with its solutions to support its clients with critical business operations. It offers end-to-end solutions to clients in the small business, finance, sales & marketing, third party risk & compliance, and public sectors.