Trade Desk Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:TTD)

The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 58,411 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 52% compared to the typical volume of 38,545 call options.

Trade Desk Price Performance

Trade Desk stock traded down $4.58 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $60.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,801,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,096,225. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $103.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $113.21. Trade Desk has a 12 month low of $60.36 and a 12 month high of $141.53. The stock has a market cap of $29.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.63.

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.21). Trade Desk had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 16.38%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Trade Desk will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Trade Desk announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $564.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Trade Desk

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Terry Green sold 18,207 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.44, for a total transaction of $2,283,886.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 704,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,338,485.76. This represents a 2.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Samantha Jacobson sold 4,298 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.56, for a total value of $509,570.88. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 90,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,754,459.04. The trade was a 4.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,029 shares of company stock worth $5,004,296. 9.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Trade Desk

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edgewood Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Trade Desk by 133.3% during the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 9,934,156 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,089,280,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675,571 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Trade Desk during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $524,187,000. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Trade Desk by 3,037.0% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,714,955 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $319,089,000 after buying an additional 2,628,409 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Trade Desk by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 20,320,769 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,228,172,000 after buying an additional 2,013,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Trade Desk during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $231,570,000. Institutional investors own 67.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on TTD shares. Macquarie increased their target price on shares of Trade Desk from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Trade Desk from $140.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. New Street Research upgraded Trade Desk from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Benchmark raised Trade Desk from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, JMP Securities decreased their price objective on Trade Desk from $150.00 to $115.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $119.45.

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.