Integral Ad Science Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:IAS)

Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:IAS) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 3,112 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 2,155% compared to the average volume of 138 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Integral Ad Science news, CAO Alexis Gil II sold 2,781 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.28, for a total transaction of $28,588.68. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 136,840 shares in the company, valued at $1,406,715.20. This represents a 1.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Lisa Utzschneider sold 12,180 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.24, for a total transaction of $124,723.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 417,742 shares in the company, valued at $4,277,678.08. This trade represents a 2.83% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 72,912 shares of company stock valued at $743,518. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Integral Ad Science

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IAS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Integral Ad Science by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,090,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,267,000 after acquiring an additional 41,683 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Integral Ad Science by 97.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 99,932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $805,000 after purchasing an additional 49,388 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Integral Ad Science in the 1st quarter valued at about $87,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Integral Ad Science during the first quarter worth approximately $10,897,000. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc boosted its position in Integral Ad Science by 12.7% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 1,994,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,080,000 after purchasing an additional 224,153 shares in the last quarter. 95.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Integral Ad Science Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of IAS stock traded down $0.01 on Tuesday, hitting $10.28. The company had a trading volume of 122,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,573,455. The firm has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.59. Integral Ad Science has a twelve month low of $6.26 and a twelve month high of $11.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $10.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.18.

Integral Ad Science (NASDAQ:IAS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.02). Integral Ad Science had a net margin of 7.91% and a return on equity of 4.45%. The company had revenue of $154.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $149.18 million. Equities research analysts expect that Integral Ad Science will post 0.26 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on IAS. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “hold” rating and issued a $10.30 price target (down from $14.00) on shares of Integral Ad Science in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Integral Ad Science from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $10.30 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Integral Ad Science from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Raymond James Financial lowered Integral Ad Science from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $10.30 price target on Integral Ad Science and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Integral Ad Science presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.52.

Integral Ad Science Company Profile

Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. operates as a digital advertising verification company in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Australia, Japan, India, and the Nordics. The company provides IAS Signal, a cloud-based technology platform that offers return on ad spend needs; and deliver independent measurement and verification of digital advertising across devices, channels, and formats, including desktop, mobile, connected TV, social, display, and video.