Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of GameStop Call Options (NYSE:GME)

GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Investors bought 335,613 call options on the company. This is an increase of 46% compared to the average volume of 230,269 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other GameStop news, Director Lawrence Cheng purchased 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $21.54 per share, with a total value of $107,700.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 83,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,787,820. The trade was a 6.41 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Alain Attal purchased 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.75 per share, for a total transaction of $257,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 572,464 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,740,948. This represents a 1.78 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 515,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,140,200. 12.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in GameStop by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,143,759 shares of the company's stock worth $255,526,000 after acquiring an additional 3,070,571 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in GameStop by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,144,063 shares of the company's stock worth $1,226,775,000 after acquiring an additional 2,036,032 shares during the last quarter. Slate Path Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of GameStop during the fourth quarter worth approximately $60,361,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of GameStop by 41.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,278,680 shares of the company's stock valued at $144,009,000 after buying an additional 1,852,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of GameStop by 606.7% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,650,750 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417,156 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 29.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on GME shares. StockNews.com raised shares of GameStop from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Wedbush set a $11.50 price target on GameStop in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th.

GameStop Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GME traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $26.31. 3,247,289 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,409,094. The firm has a market cap of $11.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 146.17 and a beta of -0.44. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $24.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.92. GameStop has a 52-week low of $10.01 and a 52-week high of $64.83.

GameStop (NYSE:GME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 25th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.21. GameStop had a net margin of 1.45% and a return on equity of 2.11%. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.21 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 28.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that GameStop will post 0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About GameStop

GameStop Corp., a specialty retailer, provides games and entertainment products through its stores and ecommerce platforms in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. The company sells new and pre-owned gaming platforms; accessories, such as controllers, gaming headsets, and virtual reality products; new and pre-owned gaming software; and in-game digital currency, digital downloadable content, and full-game downloads.