Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR)

MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 579,447 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 36% compared to the average volume of 427,322 call options.

Insider Transactions at MicroStrategy

In related news, Director Stephen X. Graham sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.36, for a total value of $9,027,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,970 shares in the company, valued at $3,145,979.20. The trade was a 74.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Jeanine Montgomery sold 56,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.41, for a total transaction of $14,479,312.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,459,514.70. This represents a 90.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 102,000 shares of company stock worth $32,259,177 over the last 90 days. 13.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of MicroStrategy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in MicroStrategy by 990.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,766,283 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $465,573,000 after acquiring an additional 2,512,645 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in MicroStrategy by 971.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 639,707 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $107,855,000 after purchasing an additional 579,994 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MicroStrategy by 587.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 664,261 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $111,994,000 after purchasing an additional 567,628 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of MicroStrategy by 904.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 468,200 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $78,939,000 after purchasing an additional 421,600 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of MicroStrategy by 1,077.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 343,164 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $57,857,000 after purchasing an additional 314,007 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on MSTR shares. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on MicroStrategy from $300.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of MicroStrategy from $275.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Maxim Group increased their target price on MicroStrategy from $193.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their target price on MicroStrategy from $392.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of MicroStrategy in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $479.25.

MicroStrategy Trading Up 11.6 %

NASDAQ MSTR traded up $39.43 on Monday, reaching $379.09. 26,570,391 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,148,285. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $343.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $220.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -179.92 and a beta of 3.25. MicroStrategy has a fifty-two week low of $43.87 and a fifty-two week high of $543.00.

MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software maker reported ($1.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($1.44). MicroStrategy had a negative net margin of 87.05% and a negative return on equity of 17.31%. The firm had revenue of $116.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($8.98) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

About MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy Incorporated provides artificial intelligence-powered enterprise analytics software and services in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It offers MicroStrategy ONE, which provides non-technical users with the ability to directly access novel and actionable insights for decision-making; and MicroStrategy Cloud for Government service, which offers always-on threat monitoring that meets the rigorous technical and regulatory needs of governments and financial institutions.