JMP Securities Lowers Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) Price Target to $115.00

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) had its price objective trimmed by JMP Securities from $150.00 to $115.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market outperform rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on TTD. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Trade Desk from $141.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Trade Desk to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup raised their target price on Trade Desk from $115.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wolfe Research upped their price target on Trade Desk from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Trade Desk from $144.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Trade Desk currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $119.77.

Trade Desk Price Performance

Shares of Trade Desk stock opened at $80.16 on Thursday. Trade Desk has a 1 year low of $73.68 and a 1 year high of $141.53. The stock has a market cap of $39.56 billion, a PE ratio of 131.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $120.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.40.

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 13.34% and a return on equity of 13.17%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Trade Desk will post 0.87 EPS for the current year.

Trade Desk announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $564.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Trade Desk

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Terry Green sold 18,207 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.44, for a total value of $2,283,886.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 704,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,338,485.76. The trade was a 2.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jay R. Grant sold 18,524 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.35, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,029 shares of company stock worth $5,004,296. Insiders own 9.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TTD. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Trade Desk by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,670,254 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,015,035,000 after buying an additional 253,137 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in Trade Desk by 4.7% during the third 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 lifted its position in shares of Trade Desk by 11.0% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Trade Desk by 133.3% in the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 9,934,156 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,089,280,000 after purchasing an additional 5,675,571 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Trade Desk by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,916,932 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $930,477,000 after purchasing an additional 198,822 shares in the last quarter. 67.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.