Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Petco Health and Wellness (NASDAQ:WOOF)

Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:WOOF) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 22,057 put options on the company. This is an increase of 1,194% compared to the average volume of 1,704 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WOOF has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $1.50 target price (down from $5.00) on shares of Petco Health and Wellness in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Petco Health and Wellness from $4.00 to $3.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of Petco Health and Wellness in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Petco Health and Wellness from $3.00 to $2.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Petco Health and Wellness from $3.00 to $2.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Petco Health and Wellness presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.65.

Petco Health and Wellness Price Performance

WOOF stock traded down $0.14 during trading on Thursday, hitting $1.42. 1,633,519 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,942,466. Petco Health and Wellness has a 1 year low of $1.41 and a 1 year high of $10.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $2.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Petco Health and Wellness (NASDAQ:WOOF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 13th. The company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Petco Health and Wellness had a negative net margin of 20.47% and a negative return on equity of 2.20%. Petco Health and Wellness’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Petco Health and Wellness will post -0.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Petco Health and Wellness

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WOOF. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Petco Health and Wellness by 27,234.3% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 218,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $870,000 after acquiring an additional 217,874 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Petco Health and Wellness by 1,254.2% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 15,302 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 14,172 shares during the period. Simplicity Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Petco Health and Wellness by 57.2% in the 3rd quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 466,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,908,000 after purchasing an additional 169,642 shares during the period. InTrack Investment Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Petco Health and Wellness by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc now owns 157,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 3,670 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Petco Health and Wellness by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 382,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,564,000 after purchasing an additional 5,695 shares during the period.

About Petco Health and Wellness

Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc, operates as a health and wellness company, focuses on enhancing the lives of pets, pet parents, and its Petco partners in the United States, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. The company provides veterinary care, grooming, training, tele-health, and Vital Care and pet health insurance services, as well as veterinary services through Vetco mobile clinics.