Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO)

Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 80,220 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 5,781% compared to the average daily volume of 1,364 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vornado Realty Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vornado Realty Trust by 5.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,107,586 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $444,859,000 after purchasing an additional 592,412 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Vornado Realty Trust by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,106,295 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $122,417,000 after purchasing an additional 39,147 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vornado Realty Trust by 428.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,820,958 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $111,146,000 after purchasing an additional 2,286,997 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vornado Realty Trust by 5.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,801,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $110,370,000 after buying an additional 149,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its position in Vornado Realty Trust by 45.0% during the 2nd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,973,190 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $51,875,000 after acquiring an additional 612,765 shares during the last quarter. 90.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on VNO. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Vornado Realty Trust from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Vornado Realty Trust from $26.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Vornado Realty Trust from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Vornado Realty Trust from $21.50 to $23.75 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $44.00 price target (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Vornado Realty Trust in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.58.

Vornado Realty Trust Stock Performance

Vornado Realty Trust stock traded up $0.16 on Friday, reaching $44.36. 458,083 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,947,656. The stock has a market cap of $8.46 billion, a PE ratio of -152.41 and a beta of 1.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $42.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.58. The company has a current ratio of 4.97, a quick ratio of 4.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93. Vornado Realty Trust has a twelve month low of $22.42 and a twelve month high of $46.63.

Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.61). Vornado Realty Trust had a return on equity of 1.72% and a net margin of 0.46%. The firm had revenue of $443.26 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. Vornado Realty Trust’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Vornado Realty Trust will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Vornado Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a positive change from Vornado Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.67%. Vornado Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -103.45%.

About Vornado Realty Trust

Vornado Realty Trust is a fully – integrated equity real estate investment trust.