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

The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 40,994 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 58% compared to the average daily volume of 26,009 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on TTD shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on Trade Desk from $140.00 to $108.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI cut Trade Desk from an "outperform" rating to an "inline" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $135.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Trade Desk from $150.00 to $135.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Trade Desk from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of Trade Desk from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $119.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Terry Green sold 18,207 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 704,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,338,485.76. This represents a 2.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Samantha Jacobson sold 4,298 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.56, for a total transaction of $509,570.88. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 90,709 shares of the company's stock, 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 41,029 shares of company stock worth $5,004,296. Company insiders own 9.72% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Trade Desk

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Trade Desk by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,670,254 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,015,035,000 after acquiring an additional 253,137 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in Trade Desk by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 38,716,074 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,245,218,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720,650 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Trade Desk by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 20,320,769 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,228,172,000 after purchasing an additional 2,013,047 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 5,675,571 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Trade Desk by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,916,932 shares of the technology company's stock worth $930,477,000 after acquiring an additional 198,822 shares during the period. 67.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trade Desk Stock Performance

NASDAQ TTD traded down $3.67 during trading on Friday, reaching $72.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,761,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,205,407. The firm has a market cap of $35.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.45. Trade Desk has a twelve month low of $71.61 and a twelve month high of $141.53. The business's fifty day moving average price is $116.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.96.

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.21). Trade Desk had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 16.38%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Trade Desk will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Trade Desk declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $564.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board 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.