Investors Buy High Volume of Getty Images Put Options (NYSE:GETY)

Getty Images Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:GETY) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 11,802 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 430% compared to the average daily volume of 2,225 put options.

Insider Activity at Getty Images

In other Getty Images news, SVP Cho Mikael sold 59,604 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $0.94, for a total transaction of $56,027.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 121,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,351. This represents a 32.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Michael Teaster sold 38,100 shares of Getty Images stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $0.79, for a total value of $30,099.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 488,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,200.98. This represents a 7.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 133,355 shares of company stock worth $120,542 in the last three months. Insiders own 12.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Getty Images

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Getty Images by 16.1% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 49,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 6,856 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Getty Images by 12.4% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 80,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,000 after acquiring an additional 8,900 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in Getty Images by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 71,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 9,173 shares during the period. Polymer Capital Management US LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Getty Images by 7.9% during the third quarter. Polymer Capital Management US LLC now owns 136,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 10,007 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Getty Images by 103.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 21,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 11,066 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.75% of the company’s stock.

Getty Images Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of GETY stock traded up $0.02 on Monday, hitting $0.93. The stock had a trading volume of 5,399,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,730,959. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $0.87 and its 200-day moving average is $0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $387.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.53 and a beta of 2.06. Getty Images has a 52-week low of $0.58 and a 52-week high of $3.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Getty Images (NYSE:GETY) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.01 by ($0.02). Getty Images had a negative net margin of 10.94% and a negative return on equity of 17.01%. The business had revenue of $226.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $238.90 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Getty Images will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GETY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Getty Images from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research raised shares of Getty Images from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Getty Images in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $3.78.

About Getty Images

Getty Images (NYSE: GETY) is a leading global provider of digital visual content, offering an extensive library of stock photography, editorial imagery, video footage and music. The company supplies creative and rights-managed assets to a broad range of industries, including advertising, media, corporate communications and publishing. Through its online platform and licensing services, Getty Images enables customers to search, license and download multimedia content for commercial and editorial use.

Founded in 1995 by Mark Getty and Jonathan Klein, Getty Images pioneered the aggregation of photographic archives into a centralized, digital marketplace.