Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY)

Etsy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETSY) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 20,563 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 39% compared to the typical daily volume of 14,750 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Merilee Buckley sold 1,676 shares of Etsy stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.11, for a total value of $85,660.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Nicholas Daniel sold 750 shares of Etsy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.40, for a total value of $41,550.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,001,798.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Merilee Buckley sold 1,676 shares of Etsy stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.11, for a total transaction of $85,660.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,619 shares of company stock valued at $300,670. 2.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ETSY. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Etsy by 3,900.0% during the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 440 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Etsy by 112.3% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 552 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Etsy by 1,576.5% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 570 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Etsy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Etsy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ETSY. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Etsy in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Etsy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.00 price objective on shares of Etsy in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Etsy from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Etsy from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.36.

Etsy Stock Performance

ETSY stock traded up $1.22 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $52.53. The stock had a trading volume of 3,270,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,753,788. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $53.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.49. Etsy has a 1-year low of $48.07 and a 1-year high of $89.58. The stock has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 1.97.

Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty retailer reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.05). Etsy had a net margin of 10.36% and a negative return on equity of 51.94%. The company had revenue of $647.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $629.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Etsy will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Etsy

Etsy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates two-sided online marketplaces that connect buyers and sellers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, and France. Its primary marketplace is Etsy.com that connects artisans and entrepreneurs with various consumers. The company also offers Reverb, a musical instrument marketplace; Depop, a fashion resale marketplace; and Elo7, a Brazil-based marketplace for handmade and unique items.