Toronto Dominion Bank Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:TD)

Toronto Dominion Bank (The) (NYSE:TD) (TSE:TD) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 48,588 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 2,634% compared to the average volume of 1,777 call options.

Toronto Dominion Bank Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of TD traded up $0.87 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $120.62. The company had a trading volume of 6,192,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,535,613. Toronto Dominion Bank has a 1-year low of $72.21 and a 1-year high of $122.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.79. The stock has a market cap of $199.31 billion, a PE ratio of 18.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.71.

Toronto Dominion Bank (NYSE:TD) (TSE:TD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The bank reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $0.11. Toronto Dominion Bank had a net margin of 13.20% and a return on equity of 14.83%. The firm had revenue of $11.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.97 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Toronto Dominion Bank will post 6.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Toronto Dominion Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. This is a positive change from Toronto Dominion Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Toronto Dominion Bank’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.52%.

Institutional Trading of Toronto Dominion Bank

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Toronto Dominion Bank by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,252,688 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,280,911,000 after acquiring an additional 765,107 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Toronto Dominion Bank in the 4th quarter valued at $2,125,963,000. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in shares of Toronto Dominion Bank by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 19,486,741 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,836,518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234,510 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Toronto Dominion Bank by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 17,014,836 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,606,978,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629,062 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Toronto Dominion Bank by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,747,071 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,610,733,000 after purchasing an additional 968,122 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Toronto Dominion Bank from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Toronto Dominion Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Toronto Dominion Bank from $138.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Toronto Dominion Bank from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Toronto Dominion Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.00.

About Toronto Dominion Bank

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Formed through the 1955 merger of the Bank of Toronto (founded 1855) and the Dominion Bank (founded 1869), TD is one of Canada’s largest banks and offers a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial and institutional clients.

TD’s core businesses include Canadian and U.S. personal and commercial banking, wealth management, wholesale banking and insurance.