Blue Owl Capital Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:OWL)

Blue Owl Capital Inc. (NYSE:OWL) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 113,704 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 99% compared to the typical daily volume of 57,099 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blue Owl Capital

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Owl Capital by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 397,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,976,000 after buying an additional 132,637 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in Blue Owl Capital by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 44,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,000 after acquiring an additional 1,703 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Blue Owl Capital in the 2nd quarter worth about $238,000. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Blue Owl Capital by 28.2% in the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 787,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,123,000 after purchasing an additional 172,982 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Blue Owl Capital by 10.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,880,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,806,000 after purchasing an additional 950,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 35.85% of the company’s stock.

Blue Owl Capital Stock Performance

Shares of OWL stock opened at $9.83 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $9.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.66. Blue Owl Capital has a fifty-two week low of $7.95 and a fifty-two week high of $21.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.19.

Blue Owl Capital (NYSE:OWL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.19. Blue Owl Capital had a return on equity of 21.97% and a net margin of 2.96%.The company had revenue of $699.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $687.23 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Blue Owl Capital will post 0.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blue Owl Capital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.4%. This is a boost from Blue Owl Capital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 13th. Blue Owl Capital’s payout ratio is 766.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on OWL shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Blue Owl Capital from $15.00 to $12.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Blue Owl Capital in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Citizens Jmp decreased their target price on shares of Blue Owl Capital from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Zacks Research cut shares of Blue Owl Capital from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Blue Owl Capital in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $15.03.

Blue Owl Capital Company Profile

Blue Owl Capital is a global alternative asset manager that focuses on private credit, direct lending and equity-related strategies for institutional investors. Headquartered in New York, the firm develops and manages a range of private markets products designed to provide capital solutions to middle-market and larger corporate borrowers, as well as liquidity and partnership arrangements with private equity firms and other alternative managers.

Its core activities include direct lending and credit strategies that provide senior, unitranche and other structured loan products to companies across industries.