Investors Buy Large Volume of Trade Desk Call Options (NASDAQ:TTD)

The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 58,411 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 52% compared to the typical volume of 38,545 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Trade Desk from $140.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Trade Desk in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI cut Trade Desk from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Macquarie increased their target price on Trade Desk from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Trade Desk from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $119.45.

Insider Transactions at Trade Desk

In other Trade Desk news, insider Jay R. Grant sold 18,524 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.35, for a total value of $2,210,839.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 169,464 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,225,528.40. This represents a 9.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Samantha Jacobson sold 4,298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.56, for a total transaction of $509,570.88. Following the sale, the insider now owns 90,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,754,459.04. This trade represents a 4.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,029 shares of company stock valued at $5,004,296. Company insiders own 9.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Trade Desk

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TTD. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Trade Desk by 21.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,335 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in Trade Desk in the 3rd quarter worth $219,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Trade Desk by 2,461.2% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 73,559 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,066,000 after buying an additional 70,687 shares in the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Trade Desk by 4.0% during the third quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,474 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $820,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in Trade Desk by 3.3% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 31,876 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,495,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033 shares during the period. 67.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trade Desk Stock Down 7.1 %

TTD traded down $4.58 during 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $103.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.21. The firm has a market cap of $29.93 billion, a PE ratio of 77.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.63. Trade Desk has a one year low of $60.36 and a one year high of $141.53.

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

Trade Desk declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $564.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Trade Desk

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.