Traders Purchase High Volume of MicroStrategy Call Options (NASDAQ:MSTR)

MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 579,447 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 36% compared to the typical volume of 427,322 call options.

MicroStrategy Stock Down 9.9 %

MSTR opened at $341.42 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. MicroStrategy has a 12 month low of $43.87 and a 12 month high of $543.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -162.04 and a beta of 3.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $347.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $223.80.

MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software maker reported ($1.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($1.44). The company had revenue of $116.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.45 million. MicroStrategy had a negative return on equity of 17.31% and a negative net margin of 87.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($8.98) earnings per share.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Jeanine Montgomery sold 56,250 shares of MicroStrategy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.41, for a total value of $14,479,312.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,670 shares in the company, valued at $1,459,514.70. The trade was a 90.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Wei-Ming Shao sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.01, for a total value of $6,624,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,344.60. The trade was a 73.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 102,000 shares of company stock worth $32,259,177 in the last 90 days. 13.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MicroStrategy

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSTR. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in MicroStrategy by 990.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,766,283 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $465,573,000 after buying an additional 2,512,645 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in MicroStrategy by 587.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 664,261 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $111,994,000 after purchasing an additional 567,628 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MicroStrategy by 971.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 639,707 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $107,855,000 after purchasing an additional 579,994 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of MicroStrategy by 904.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 468,200 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $78,939,000 after buying an additional 421,600 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MicroStrategy by 1,077.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 343,164 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $57,857,000 after buying an additional 314,007 shares during the last quarter. 59.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MSTR shares. Maxim Group increased their target price on shares of MicroStrategy from $193.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of MicroStrategy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on MicroStrategy from $275.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. TD Cowen increased their price target on MicroStrategy from $392.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of MicroStrategy in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $479.25.

MicroStrategy Company Profile

MicroStrategy Incorporated provides artificial intelligence-powered enterprise analytics software and services in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It offers MicroStrategy ONE, which provides non-technical users with the ability to directly access novel and actionable insights for decision-making; and MicroStrategy Cloud for Government service, which offers always-on threat monitoring that meets the rigorous technical and regulatory needs of governments and financial institutions.