CrowdStrike Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:CRWD)

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 137,767 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 39% compared to the average volume of 99,014 call options.

CrowdStrike Price Performance

Shares of CRWD stock traded up $21.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $298.92. 8,551,984 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,324,159. CrowdStrike has a twelve month low of $157.59 and a twelve month high of $398.33. The firm has a market cap of $72.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 543.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.14 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $267.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $312.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.07. CrowdStrike had a return on equity of 8.44% and a net margin of 4.84%. The company had revenue of $963.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $958.27 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CrowdStrike will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC upgraded shares of CrowdStrike from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $302.00 to $339.00 in a report on Friday, August 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of CrowdStrike from $400.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup cut their target price on CrowdStrike from $345.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on CrowdStrike from $335.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on CrowdStrike from $350.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.03.

Insider Activity

In other CrowdStrike news, insider Shawn Henry sold 8,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.99, for a total transaction of $3,028,794.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 187,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,157,254.09. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other CrowdStrike news, insider Shawn Henry sold 8,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.99, for a total transaction of $3,028,794.23. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 187,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,157,254.09. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Roxanne S. Austin sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.01, for a total transaction of $3,900,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,136,012.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,577 shares of company stock worth $16,330,609 over the last ninety days. 4.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CrowdStrike

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CrowdStrike during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of CrowdStrike during the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CrowdStrike in the second quarter worth $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CrowdStrike during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Northwest Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of CrowdStrike during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 71.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CrowdStrike Company Profile

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions in the United States and internationally. Its unified platform offers cloud-delivered protection of endpoints, cloud workloads, identity, and data. The company offers corporate endpoint and cloud workload security, managed security, security and vulnerability management, IT operations management, identity protection, SIEM and log management, threat intelligence, data protection, security orchestration, automation and response and AI powered workflow automation, and securing generative AI workload services.