Traders Purchase Large Volume of Beyond Meat Put Options (NASDAQ:BYND)

Beyond Meat, Inc. (NASDAQ:BYND) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 35,321 put options on the company. This is an increase of 75% compared to the typical volume of 20,127 put options.

Insider Activity at Beyond Meat

In other Beyond Meat news, insider Ethan Brown sold 313,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.75, for a total transaction of $1,173,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,703,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,387,330. The trade was a 15.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 8.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Beyond Meat

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BYND. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Beyond Meat by 49.1% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 16,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 5,537 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Beyond Meat by 73.8% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 619,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,331,000 after purchasing an additional 263,337 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Beyond Meat by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 56,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 8,561 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Beyond Meat by 58.8% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 53,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 19,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CoreCommodity Management LLC boosted its position in Beyond Meat by 129.5% during the fourth quarter. CoreCommodity Management LLC now owns 171,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 96,602 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 52.48% of the company’s stock.

Beyond Meat Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of BYND stock traded down $0.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $3.17. The company had a trading volume of 1,931,068 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,613,367. Beyond Meat has a 52 week low of $2.86 and a 52 week high of $10.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.75 and a beta of 2.36. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $3.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.04.

Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.65) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $76.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.08 million. On average, research analysts predict that Beyond Meat will post -2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on BYND. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Beyond Meat from $4.00 to $3.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Beyond Meat from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $4.92.

About Beyond Meat

Beyond Meat, Inc, a plant-based meat company, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells plant-based meat products in the United States and internationally. The company sells a range of plant-based meat products across the platforms of beef, pork, and poultry. It sells its products through grocery, mass merchandiser, club stores, and natural retailer channels, as well as various food-away-from-home channels, including restaurants, foodservice outlets, and schools.