Hut 8 Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:HUT)

Key Points

• Hut 8 Corp. experienced a significant surge in options trading, with 58,227 call options purchased, marking an 88% increase from the average daily volume.
• Brokerages have recently upgraded their ratings for Hut 8, including Roth Capital raising its target price from $31.00 to $60.00 and JMP Securities increasing it from $25.00 to $65.00.
• Despite the bullish ratings, Hut 8 shares declined 17.2% in trading on Wednesday, closing at $38.84 after substantial trading volume of over 18 million shares.

Hut 8 Corp. (NASDAQ:HUT - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 58,227 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 88% compared to the typical daily volume of 30,937 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HUT. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price (up previously from $31.00) on shares of Hut 8 in a research note on Monday, September 15th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Hut 8 from $25.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Hut 8 in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Northland Securities set a $26.00 target price on Hut 8 in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $74.00 target price on Hut 8 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $38.41.

Hut 8 Trading Down 17.2%

Shares of HUT stock traded down $8.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $38.84. The company had a trading volume of 18,548,467 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,962,153. Hut 8 has a 12 month low of $10.04 and a 12 month high of $57.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm's fifty day moving average is $34.09 and its 200 day moving average is $22.91.

Hut 8 (NASDAQ:HUT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.01. Hut 8 had a return on equity of 8.73% and a net margin of 112.81%.The firm had revenue of $41.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $49.10 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Hut 8 will post -0.53 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph Flinn sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.55, for a total value of $225,675.00. Following the sale, the director owned 9,791 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $259,951.05. The trade was a 46.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Sean Joseph Glennan sold 6,060 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.09, for a total transaction of $133,865.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $139,056.55. This represents a 49.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,060 shares of company stock worth $399,485 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Hut 8

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hut 8 by 68.4% in the second quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,613 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Hut 8 by 1.7% in the second quarter. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC now owns 44,713 shares of the company's stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Hut 8 by 1.1% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 66,957 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,245,000 after acquiring an additional 734 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Hut 8 by 116.4% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,515 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hut 8 by 7.9% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,127 shares of the company's stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. 31.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hut 8 Company Profile

Hut 8 Corp., together with its subsidiaries, acquires, builds, manages, and operates data centers for digital assets mining, computing, and artificial intelligence in the United States. It operates in four segments: Digital Assets Mining, Managed Services, High Performance Computing Colocation and Cloud, and Other.

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