Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on SEA (NYSE:SE)

Sea Limited (NYSE:SE) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 21,066 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 94% compared to the average volume of 10,864 call options.

SEA Stock Performance

SE traded down $0.12 on Thursday, reaching $130.54. The stock had a trading volume of 1,283,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,365,064. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $114.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.81. The company has a market cap of $74.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 868.93 and a beta of 1.55. SEA has a 12-month low of $41.76 and a 12-month high of $132.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

SEA (NYSE:SE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The Internet company based in Singapore reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.35). The business had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.09 billion. SEA had a net margin of 0.64% and a return on equity of 1.40%. SEA’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.26) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that SEA will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on SE shares. Benchmark raised their price target on SEA from $94.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Dbs Bank upgraded SEA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target (up previously from $84.00) on shares of SEA in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Phillip Securities reissued a “reduce” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of SEA in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on SEA from $94.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.21.

Institutional Trading of SEA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SE. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in SEA in the 4th quarter valued at $1,493,682,000. Kaizen Investment Management Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of SEA during the third quarter worth about $587,544,000. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of SEA by 35.9% during the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 20,902,378 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore’s stock worth $1,971,303,000 after purchasing an additional 5,517,559 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in shares of SEA by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 39,564,018 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore’s stock worth $3,730,096,000 after purchasing an additional 5,295,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd lifted its stake in SEA by 3,033.0% in the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,098,003 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore’s stock valued at $222,598,000 after buying an additional 2,031,038 shares in the last quarter. 59.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SEA Company Profile

Sea Ltd. is an internet and mobile platform company, which engages in the provision of online gaming services. It operates through the following segments: Digital Entertainment, E-Commerce, and Digital Financial Services. The Digital Entertainment segment offers and develops mobile and PC online games.