Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Unity Software (NYSE:U)

Key Points

• Traders purchased 57,980 call options on Unity — about a 9% increase versus the average daily call volume — indicating unusually high bullish options activity.
• Company insiders, including COO Alexander Blum and CFO Jarrod Yahes, have recently sold shares (totaling 41,684 shares worth roughly $773,350 last quarter), with insiders now owning about 0.77% of the stock.
• Analyst consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $37.04, though several firms have trimmed their price targets in recent reports.

Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders purchased 57,980 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 9% compared to the average daily volume of 53,264 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Unity Software

In other news, COO Alexander Blum sold 2,541 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.76, for a total value of $47,669.16. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 548,425 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,288,453. The trade was a 0.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jarrod Yahes sold 6,205 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.03, for a total transaction of $130,491.15. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 728,381 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,317,852.43. The trade was a 0.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 41,684 shares of company stock worth $773,350 over the last quarter. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in U. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Unity Software by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,696 shares of the company's stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in Unity Software by 1.8% during the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 18,291 shares of the company's stock worth $732,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in Unity Software by 88.1% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 728 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its position in Unity Software by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 14,861 shares of the company's stock worth $656,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in Unity Software by 2.1% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 22,330 shares of the company's stock valued at $540,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. 73.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on U. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Unity Software in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Unity Software from $38.00 to $29.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Unity Software from $47.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Unity Software from $35.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Unity Software from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $37.04.

Unity Software Stock Performance

Unity Software stock traded down $0.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $26.59. 20,814,070 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,438,811. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $21.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.63. Unity Software has a twelve month low of $16.78 and a twelve month high of $52.15. The firm has a market cap of $11.60 billion, a PE ratio of -27.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Unity Software (NYSE:U - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.04. Unity Software had a negative return on equity of 4.76% and a negative net margin of 21.77%.The business had revenue of $503.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $490.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.30) earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Unity Software will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Unity Software

Unity Software is a leading provider of a real-time 3D development platform that enables creators across industries to design, build and operate interactive, real-time experiences. Originally focused on the game development market, Unity's technology now extends into sectors such as film, automotive, architecture, engineering and construction, delivering immersive content for mobile, desktop, console, augmented reality and virtual reality devices. The company's core offering comprises a suite of authoring tools, runtime engines and cloud services that streamline the creation and deployment of interactive 3D applications.

The Unity Editor serves as the central hub where developers design scenes, script behavior and iterate on assets.

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