Investors Purchase High Volume of Dominion Energy Call Options (NYSE:D)

Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE:D) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 33,996 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,247% compared to the typical volume of 2,524 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BLB&B Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Dominion Energy by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 7,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Dominion Energy by 1.8% in the second quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 10,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $535,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY increased its holdings in Dominion Energy by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 7,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Dominion Energy by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 2,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Finally, Altman Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Dominion Energy by 0.7% during the second quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. now owns 29,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,423,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on D shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Dominion Energy from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Dominion Energy from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays boosted their price target on Dominion Energy from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Dominion Energy from $48.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Dominion Energy in a report on Friday, November 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Dominion Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.91.

Dominion Energy Stock Performance

NYSE D traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $59.71. 5,400,748 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,439,415. Dominion Energy has a 12-month low of $43.53 and a 12-month high of $61.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $58.09 and a 200 day moving average of $54.92. The company has a market cap of $50.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Dominion Energy (NYSE:D) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.05. Dominion Energy had a net margin of 16.95% and a return on equity of 8.35%. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Dominion Energy will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Dominion Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.6675 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $2.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.47%. Dominion Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.68%.

Dominion Energy Company Profile

Dominion Energy, Inc produces and distributes energy in the United States. It operates through three operating segments: Dominion Energy Virginia, Dominion Energy South Carolina, and Contracted Energy. The Dominion Energy Virginia segment generates, transmits, and distributes regulated electricity to approximately 2.8 million residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental customers in Virginia and North Carolina.