Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) Sees Large Volume Increase – What’s Next?

The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Friday . Approximately 5,734,745 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 1% from the previous session’s volume of 5,814,726 shares.The stock last traded at $81.57 and had previously closed at $81.92.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on TTD shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Trade Desk from $145.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Trade Desk from $144.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered Trade Desk from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Trade Desk in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Trade Desk from $141.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.20.

Trade Desk Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.31. The company has a market capitalization of $39.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.95, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.45.

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.21). Trade Desk had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 13.17%. On average, research analysts predict that The Trade Desk, Inc. will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Trade Desk declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $564.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Terry Green sold 18,207 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 704,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,338,485.76. This represents a 2.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Samantha Jacobson sold 4,298 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.56, for a total transaction of $509,570.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 90,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,754,459.04. This trade represents a 4.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,029 shares of company stock valued at $5,004,296. Insiders own 9.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Edgewood Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Trade Desk by 133.3% during the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 9,934,156 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,089,280,000 after buying an additional 5,675,571 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Trade Desk during the fourth quarter worth approximately $524,187,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,013,047 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Trade Desk during the fourth quarter worth approximately $231,570,000. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,720,650 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.77% of the company’s stock.

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.