Investors Purchase Large Volume of Pinterest Call Options (NYSE:PINS)

Key Points

• Investors have increased their purchase of Pinterest call options significantly, acquiring 82,802 call options, marking a 217% increase from the usual daily volume.
• Pinterest's CFO recently sold 22,821 shares valued at approximately $795,311, which decreased their position by 6.81%.
• Multiple institutional investors have recently altered their stakes in Pinterest, with 88.81% of the company's stock now owned by such entities.

Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors acquired 82,802 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 217% compared to the typical daily volume of 26,143 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Donnelly Julia Brau sold 22,821 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.85, for a total transaction of $795,311.85. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 312,422 shares in the company, valued at $10,887,906.70. This trade represents a 6.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Andrea Acosta sold 3,759 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.96, for a total value of $131,414.64. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 157,402 shares in the company, valued at $5,502,773.92. This trade represents a 2.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 865,552 shares of company stock valued at $31,242,397 over the last quarter. 7.11% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pinterest

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PINS. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Pinterest in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Pinterest by 282.7% in the 2nd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 685 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Pinterest in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. West Branch Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Pinterest in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Pinterest in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.81% of the company's stock.

Pinterest Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PINS traded up $1.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $33.29. 6,301,272 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,376,010. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.96, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.81. Pinterest has a twelve month low of $23.68 and a twelve month high of $40.90.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 19th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter. Pinterest had a net margin of 49.31% and a return on equity of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $665.93 million during the quarter. On average, research analysts expect that Pinterest will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price target on shares of Pinterest from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Pinterest from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Pinterest from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Benchmark raised their price target on shares of Pinterest from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Pinterest from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.67.

About Pinterest

Pinterest, Inc operates as a visual search and discovery platform in the United States and internationally. Its platform allows people to find ideas, such as recipes, home and style inspiration, and others; and to search, save, and shop the ideas. The company was formerly known as Cold Brew Labs Inc and changed its name to Pinterest, Inc in April 2012.

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