Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Dana (NYSE:DAN)

Dana Incorporated (NYSE:DAN) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Investors acquired 14,128 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,781% compared to the average volume of 751 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DAN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upgraded shares of Dana from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $12.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group raised Dana from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $18.00 in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Dana from $7.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Dana from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $9.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Dana from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $16.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.14.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dana

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Dana by 118.3% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,702 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,464 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Dana by 484.6% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,695 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 2,234 shares during the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P purchased a new position in Dana in the 3rd quarter valued at $346,000. JB Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in Dana by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. JB Capital Partners LP now owns 1,425,293 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $14,880,000 after purchasing an additional 128,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Dana during the third quarter worth $2,687,000. 96.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Dana Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DAN traded up $2.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $15.27. 3,169,873 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,520,024. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. Dana has a fifty-two week low of $7.58 and a fifty-two week high of $16.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.83. The firm has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of -138.94 and a beta of 2.31.

Dana (NYSE:DAN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The auto parts company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.13). Dana had a negative net margin of 0.15% and a positive return on equity of 3.48%. The business had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Dana will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

About Dana

Dana Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, provides power-conveyance and energy-management solutions for vehicles and machinery in North America, Europe, South America, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through four segments: Light Vehicle Drive Systems, Commercial Vehicle Drive and Motion Systems, Off-Highway Drive and Motion Systems, and Power Technologies.