Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on GitLab (NASDAQ:GTLB)

GitLab Inc. (NASDAQ:GTLB - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors acquired 19,959 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 153% compared to the average daily volume of 7,882 call options.

GitLab Stock Performance

Shares of GTLB stock traded up $9.67 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $54.35. The company had a trading volume of 13,604,652 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,571,767. The firm has a market cap of $8.64 billion, a PE ratio of -19.67 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $48.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.11. GitLab has a one year low of $40.19 and a one year high of $78.53.

GitLab (NASDAQ:GTLB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 3rd. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.05. GitLab had a negative return on equity of 19.14% and a negative net margin of 68.52%. The company had revenue of $182.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $176.86 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.29) earnings per share. GitLab's revenue for the quarter was up 30.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that GitLab will post -0.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at GitLab

In related news, Director Merline Saintil sold 1,182 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.51, for a total transaction of $60,884.82. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $510,052.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Sytse Sijbrandij sold 56,000 shares of GitLab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.99, for a total value of $2,743,440.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Merline Saintil sold 1,182 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.51, for a total value of $60,884.82. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,902 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $510,052.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 140,275 shares of company stock worth $6,848,847. 21.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of GitLab

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GTLB. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of GitLab during the fourth quarter worth $222,591,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of GitLab by 78.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,040,410 shares of the company's stock valued at $410,597,000 after purchasing an additional 3,096,437 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of GitLab during the fourth quarter valued at about $76,918,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of GitLab by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,388,440 shares of the company's stock valued at $591,096,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in shares of GitLab in the first quarter worth about $49,196,000. 91.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GTLB shares. Citic Securities started coverage on shares of GitLab in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of GitLab in a report on Monday, August 19th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on GitLab from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of GitLab in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of GitLab in a research report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.63.

About GitLab

GitLab Inc, through its subsidiaries, develops software for the software development lifecycle in the United States, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. It offers GitLab, a DevOps platform, which is a single application that leads to faster cycle time and allows visibility throughout and control over various stages of the DevOps lifecycle.