Stock Traders Buy High Volume of DraftKings Call Options (NASDAQ:DKNG)

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ:DKNG) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 72,788 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 71% compared to the average daily volume of 42,619 call options.

Insider Activity at DraftKings

In other news, insider Paul Liberman sold 484,417 shares of DraftKings stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.16, for a total transaction of $12,187,931.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 213,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,374,100.52. The trade was a 69.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jocelyn Moore sold 2,150 shares of DraftKings stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.60, for a total transaction of $55,040.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,993.60. This represents a 60.46% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 524,546 shares of company stock worth $13,215,769. Insiders own 47.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DraftKings

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in DraftKings by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,758,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,542,368,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354,457 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of DraftKings by 40.6% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,939,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,547,000 after acquiring an additional 560,139 shares during the period. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC acquired a new position in shares of DraftKings in the third quarter worth about $4,492,000. Waycross Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of DraftKings in the fourth quarter worth about $2,584,000. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its position in shares of DraftKings by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 3,456,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,602,000 after acquiring an additional 348,333 shares during the period. 37.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on DKNG shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of DraftKings in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of DraftKings from $54.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Wedbush started coverage on shares of DraftKings in a research note on Friday, April 24th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of DraftKings from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of DraftKings from $50.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, DraftKings presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.32.

DraftKings Stock Up 5.4%

NASDAQ DKNG traded up $1.29 on Wednesday, hitting $25.10. The stock had a trading volume of 7,494,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,140,021. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $23.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. DraftKings has a 52-week low of $20.46 and a 52-week high of $48.78. The stock has a market cap of $12.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 417.27 and a beta of 1.67.

DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. DraftKings had a net margin of 0.93% and a return on equity of 13.51%. DraftKings’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.07) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that DraftKings will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current year.

About DraftKings

DraftKings Inc is a leading digital sports entertainment and gaming company specializing in daily fantasy sports, sports betting and iGaming products. The company provides an integrated platform where users can participate in daily fantasy contests, place wagers on professional sports events, and enjoy a range of online casino-style games. DraftKings’ proprietary technology supports real-time odds, live scoring and advanced analytics to enhance the user experience across mobile and desktop applications.

Founded in 2012 by co-founders Jason Robins, Matthew Kalish and Paul Liberman, DraftKings began as a daily fantasy sports provider and rapidly expanded into regulated sports betting following legislative changes in the United States.