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

Key Points

• Unusual options activity: Traders purchased 24,845 Pinterest call options, about 70% above the average daily volume of 14,606 contracts.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Several firms raised their price targets, but the consensus rating is “Hold,” with an average target of $27.90; UBS maintained a “Buy” rating with a $33 target.
• Shares rose 2.8% to $19.80: Pinterest recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, while insiders have sold $13.6 million worth of stock over the past 90 days.

Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 24,845 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 70% compared to the average daily volume of 14,606 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PINS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Pinterest from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Pinterest from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Pinterest from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Pinterest from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Pinterest from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nineteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $27.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pinterest

In other Pinterest news, CFO Julia Donnelly sold 29,548 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.61, for a total value of $549,888.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 751,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,993,249.81. This represents a 3.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Wanjiku Walcott sold 14,103 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.21, for a total transaction of $256,815.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 658,902 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,998,605.42. The trade was a 2.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 631,662 shares of company stock valued at $13,571,376 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 8.09% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pinterest

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Pinterest by 30.5% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,808,870 shares of the company's stock valued at $694,082,000 after purchasing an additional 6,258,628 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Pinterest by 271.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,988,631 shares of the company's stock valued at $109,831,000 after purchasing an additional 4,375,000 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Pinterest by 15.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,848,116 shares of the company's stock valued at $107,254,000 after purchasing an additional 779,998 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Pinterest by 11.1% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,014,388 shares of the company's stock worth $73,624,000 after acquiring an additional 401,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Senvest Management LLC boosted its stake in Pinterest by 5.1% during the first quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 3,594,581 shares of the company's stock worth $65,925,000 after buying an additional 175,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.81% of the company's stock.

Pinterest Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of PINS traded up $0.54 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $19.80. 2,882,680 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,729,447. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 3.81 and a quick ratio of 3.81. Pinterest has a 52 week low of $13.84 and a 52 week high of $35.42. The company has a market cap of $11.09 billion, a PE ratio of 58.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.76.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.07. Pinterest had a return on equity of 7.49% and a net margin of 5.46%.The business had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Pinterest will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Pinterest

Pinterest, Inc operates a visual discovery and planning platform that helps people find, save and organize ideas for projects, interests and everyday activities. Users can collect images, videos and other content as “Pins” and arrange them on personalized or collaborative boards. The platform supports discovery across areas such as home design, food, fashion, travel, beauty and do-it-yourself projects.

Pinterest also provides tools for businesses and creators, including visual advertising, shopping features, product catalogs and analytics.

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