Trade Desk Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:TTD)

The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders acquired 40,994 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 58% compared to the typical volume of 26,009 call options.

Trade Desk Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Trade Desk stock opened at $80.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $119.84 and a 200 day moving average of $115.53. Trade Desk has a 12 month low of $76.12 and a 12 month high of $141.53. The firm has a market cap of $39.50 billion, a PE ratio of 131.20, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.45.

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.21). Trade Desk had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 13.17%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Trade Desk will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Trade Desk announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $564.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Trade Desk

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Terry Green sold 18,207 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.44, for a total value of $2,283,886.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 704,229 shares in the company, valued at $88,338,485.76. The trade was a 2.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Samantha Jacobson sold 4,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.56, for a total value of $509,570.88. Following the sale, the insider now owns 90,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,754,459.04. This trade represents a 4.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,029 shares of company stock worth $5,004,296 over the last quarter. 9.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Trade Desk

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Edgewood Management LLC increased its holdings in Trade Desk by 133.3% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 9,934,156 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,089,280,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675,571 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Trade Desk during the 4th quarter worth $524,187,000. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Trade Desk by 3,037.0% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,714,955 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $319,089,000 after purchasing an additional 2,628,409 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Trade Desk by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 20,320,769 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,228,172,000 after purchasing an additional 2,013,047 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Trade Desk during the 4th quarter worth $231,570,000. 67.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. New Street Research upgraded Trade Desk from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Trade Desk from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Trade Desk from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Trade Desk from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Trade Desk from $142.00 to $101.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Trade Desk has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $120.97.

Trade Desk Company Profile

The Trade Desk, Inc operates as a technology company in the United States and internationally. The company offers a self-service cloud-based platform that allows buyers to plan, manage, optimize, and measure data-driven digital advertising campaigns across various ad formats and channels, including video, display, audio, digital-out-of-home, native, and social on various devices, such as computers, mobile devices, televisions, and streaming devices.