Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Canadian Pacific Kansas City (NYSE:CP)

Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (NYSE:CP) (TSE:CP) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 3,716 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 111% compared to the average volume of 1,758 call options.

Canadian Pacific Kansas City Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Canadian Pacific Kansas City stock opened at $78.50 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $82.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The company has a market capitalization of $73.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.16, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.96. Canadian Pacific Kansas City has a 1-year low of $68.92 and a 1-year high of $91.58.

Canadian Pacific Kansas City (NYSE:CP) (TSE:CP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.01 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.59 billion. Canadian Pacific Kansas City had a net margin of 24.45% and a return on equity of 8.77%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Canadian Pacific Kansas City will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Canadian Pacific Kansas City Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This is an increase from Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s payout ratio is currently 17.31%.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Pacific Kansas City

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Choate Investment Advisors raised its stake in shares of Canadian Pacific Kansas City by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 72,010 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,349,000 after buying an additional 14,037 shares in the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Canadian Pacific Kansas City in the 2nd quarter worth $11,810,000. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Canadian Pacific Kansas City in the 1st quarter worth $4,160,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Canadian Pacific Kansas City by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,229,212 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $196,672,000 after buying an additional 13,727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its stake in shares of Canadian Pacific Kansas City by 53.0% in the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 49,072 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,100,000 after buying an additional 16,995 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Canadian Pacific Kansas City from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Scotiabank upgraded Canadian Pacific Kansas City from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Canadian Pacific Kansas City from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Susquehanna upgraded Canadian Pacific Kansas City from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $94.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Canadian Pacific Kansas City from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.78.

About Canadian Pacific Kansas City

Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates a transcontinental freight railway in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The company transports bulk commodities, including grain, coal, potash, fertilizers, and sulphur; merchandise freight, such as forest products, energy, chemicals and plastics, metals, minerals, consumer products, and automotive; and intermodal traffic comprising retail goods in overseas containers.