DraftKings Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:DKNG)

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ:DKNG) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 118,696 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 54% compared to the average daily volume of 77,140 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on DKNG shares. Bank of America cut DraftKings from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of DraftKings from $50.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of DraftKings in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of DraftKings in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of DraftKings from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 10th. Twenty-five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, DraftKings currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.48.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Harry Sloan purchased 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $30.30 per share, with a total value of $757,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 249,712 shares in the company, valued at $7,566,273.60. The trade was a 11.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Alan Wayne Ellingson sold 8,421 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.23, for a total value of $246,145.83. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 126,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,711,917.70. This trade represents a 6.22% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 166,752 shares of company stock valued at $5,387,153 over the last 90 days. 51.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of DraftKings

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Viking Global Investors LP bought a new position in shares of DraftKings during the third quarter valued at $561,125,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in DraftKings in the second quarter valued at $362,554,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in DraftKings by 63.5% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,685,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $437,044,000 after purchasing an additional 4,538,007 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in DraftKings by 53,272.1% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,056,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $173,974,000 after purchasing an additional 4,048,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eminence Capital LP lifted its holdings in DraftKings by 195.2% during the 1st quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 5,178,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,964,000 after buying an additional 3,423,909 shares during the period. 37.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

DraftKings Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ DKNG traded down $1.19 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $34.00. 16,579,590 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,996,303. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $32.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.91. The stock has a market cap of $16.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -59.84, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51. DraftKings has a one year low of $26.23 and a one year high of $53.61.

DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.01 by ($0.27). DraftKings had a negative net margin of 4.90% and a negative return on equity of 22.84%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.60) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that DraftKings will post 0.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About DraftKings

DraftKings Inc operates as a digital sports entertainment and gaming company in the United States and internationally. It provides online sports betting and casino, daily fantasy sports, media, and other consumer products, as well as retails sportsbooks. The company also engages in the design and development of sports betting and casino gaming software for online and retail sportsbooks, and iGaming operators.