Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Hallador Energy Call Options (NASDAQ:HNRG)

Hallador Energy Company (NASDAQ:HNRG) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 6,448 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 302% compared to the average daily volume of 1,605 call options.

Hallador Energy Stock Down 4.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:HNRG traded down $1.15 on Wednesday, hitting $22.66. 405,736 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 672,958. Hallador Energy has a 1-year low of $8.37 and a 1-year high of $24.70. The company has a market capitalization of $974.74 million, a PE ratio of -4.53 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $19.55 and its 200 day moving average is $17.62.

Hallador Energy (NASDAQ:HNRG) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The energy company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $146.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.92 million. Hallador Energy had a positive return on equity of 11.58% and a negative net margin of 46.61%. Sell-side analysts predict that Hallador Energy will post -0.31 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on HNRG shares. B. Riley downgraded shares of Hallador Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen raised Hallador Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 26th. Zacks Research cut Hallador Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $28.00 target price on Hallador Energy in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Hallador Energy in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hallador Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Charles Ray Iv Wesley purchased 20,000 shares of Hallador Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $15.27 per share, with a total value of $305,400.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 234,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,587,136.78. The trade was a 9.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David C. Hardie sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.53, for a total transaction of $1,953,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 21,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $411,536.16. This represents a 82.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 372,062 shares of company stock valued at $7,232,705. 23.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hallador Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HNRG. Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hallador Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $319,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Hallador Energy by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,693,561 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $20,797,000 after acquiring an additional 65,652 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Hallador Energy in the first quarter valued at $1,126,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Hallador Energy by 356.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 273,300 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $3,356,000 after acquiring an additional 213,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hallador Energy during the first quarter worth about $1,090,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.38% of the company’s stock.

About Hallador Energy

Hallador Energy Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the production of steam coal in the State of Indiana for the electric power generation industry. The company owns the Oaktown Mine 1 and Oaktown Mine 2 underground mines in Oaktown; Freelandville Center Pit surface mine in Freelandville; and Prosperity Surface mine in Petersburg, Indiana.