Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD)

Key Points

• Trade Desk saw a significant increase in options trading activity with 73,757 call options purchased, marking a 17% rise from the typical daily volume.
• Analysts provided mixed ratings for Trade Desk, with Oppenheimer raising its price target to $110.00, while Moffett Nathanson lowered its rating to "sell" and set a target of $45.00.
• The company's stock traded up 2.5% on Monday, closing at $55.60, with significant trading volume of over 17 million shares.

The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors acquired 73,757 call options on the company. Thisisanincreaseof17% compared to the typical daily volume of 62,980 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on TTD. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Trade Desk from $80.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Moffett Nathanson lowered shares of Trade Desk from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Trade Desk from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. HSBC reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $56.00 price target on shares of Trade Desk in a research note on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Trade Desk from $83.00 to $60.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Trade Desk currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $89.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Trade Desk

In related news, Director David B. Wells sold 28,638 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.88, for a total transaction of $2,287,603.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 66,985 shares in the company, valued at $5,350,761.80. The trade was a 29.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 10.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TTD. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Trade Desk by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,237,745 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,420,689,000 after purchasing an additional 1,567,491 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Trade Desk by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 14,267,457 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,027,114,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169,252 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Trade Desk by 52.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,314,817 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $884,860,000 after purchasing an additional 4,218,975 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Trade Desk by 198.4% during the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 8,102,294 shares of the technology company's stock worth $443,358,000 after acquiring an additional 5,387,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Trade Desk by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,591,849 shares of the technology company's stock worth $422,150,000 after acquiring an additional 418,911 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.77% of the company's stock.

Trade Desk Stock Up 2.5%

TTD stock traded up $1.37 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $55.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 17,031,437 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,829,352. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $76.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.70. The company has a market capitalization of $27.33 billion, a PE ratio of 66.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.37. Trade Desk has a 12 month low of $42.96 and a 12 month high of $141.53.

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.01). Trade Desk had a return on equity of 15.19% and a net margin of 15.57%. The firm had revenue of $694.04 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $686.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Trade Desk will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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