Traders Buy High Volume of Teladoc Health Call Options (NYSE:TDOC)

Teladoc Health, Inc. (NYSE:TDOC) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 61,931 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 377% compared to the average volume of 12,988 call options.

Teladoc Health Stock Performance

Shares of Teladoc Health stock opened at $10.40 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $9.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.31. The company has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.80 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.73. Teladoc Health has a one year low of $6.76 and a one year high of $22.54.

Teladoc Health (NYSE:TDOC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The health services provider reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.29) by $0.10. The company had revenue of $640.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $630.50 million. Teladoc Health had a negative net margin of 37.91% and a negative return on equity of 10.06%. On average, research analysts predict that Teladoc Health will post -1.17 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Teladoc Health from $16.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Teladoc Health from $16.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Teladoc Health from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Teladoc Health from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Teladoc Health in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Teladoc Health news, CFO Mala Murthy sold 8,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.16, for a total value of $62,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,767 shares in the company, valued at $614,091.72. This trade represents a 9.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Michael Willem Waters sold 4,218 shares of Teladoc Health stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.16, for a total transaction of $30,200.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 78,309 shares in the company, valued at $560,692.44. This represents a 5.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,051 shares of company stock worth $143,565 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.95% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Teladoc Health

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Teladoc Health by 2.1% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 65,588 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,352 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Teladoc Health by 58.1% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,817 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 1,403 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Teladoc Health by 148.7% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,868 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,715 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Teladoc Health by 84.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,048 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,854 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in Teladoc Health by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 47,400 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 1,901 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.82% of the company’s stock.

Teladoc Health Company Profile

Teladoc Health, Inc provides virtual healthcare services worldwide. The company operates through Teladoc Health Integrated Care and BetterHelp segments. The Integrated Care segment offers virtual medical services, including general medical, expert medical, specialty medical, chronic condition management, and mental health, as well as enabling technologies and enterprise telehealth solutions for hospitals and health systems.