Trade Desk Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:TTD)

The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders purchased 70,402 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 27% compared to the average daily volume of 55,491 call options.

Trade Desk News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Trade Desk this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Options activity showed a potentially bullish signal: traders purchased 70,402 call options, approximately 27% above the stock’s average call volume. However, this activity does not necessarily indicate that the broader market has turned positive.
• Neutral Sentiment: DA Davidson reaffirmed its “neutral” rating but lowered its price target to $16 from $29, leaving implied upside from recent levels while reflecting substantially reduced expectations. Benzinga
• Negative Sentiment: BNP Paribas Exane downgraded The Trade Desk from “neutral” to “underperform” and assigned a $10 price target, below recent trading levels.
• Negative Sentiment: Additional analysts have become more cautious: Robert W. Baird cut the stock to “hold,” while Cantor Fitzgerald lowered its target to $14 and Rosenblatt Securities reduced its target to $12. Baird downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Evercore, BMO Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets, Needham, and Bank of America Securities also issued more cautious views, including downgrades to “in-line,” “sector perform,” or “sell.” The broad reversal in ratings is adding selling pressure. Why The Trade Desk Was Sliding Again Today
• Negative Sentiment: Investor discussions remain predominantly bearish after the earnings miss and guidance cut, with concerns about decelerating growth, a limited competitive moat, and further valuation volatility in high-growth technology stocks. Opinions on Earnings Miss and Guidance Cut

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on TTD. HSBC downgraded shares of Trade Desk from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $10.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective (down from $30.00) on shares of Trade Desk in a report on Monday, August 3rd. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $16.00 price objective (down from $29.00) on shares of Trade Desk in a research report on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Trade Desk from $24.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $12.00 target price on Trade Desk and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Hold rating and nine have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $19.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Samantha Jacobson sold 53,681 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.14, for a total value of $1,134,816.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $276,912.86. This represents a 80.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 11.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Trade Desk

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of TTD. Nicholas Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of Trade Desk by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. now owns 1,016,743 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,596,000 after purchasing an additional 127,049 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Trade Desk by 272.9% in the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 68,607 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,604,000 after purchasing an additional 50,209 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Trade Desk by 235.4% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 588,250 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $22,330,000 after purchasing an additional 412,842 shares during the period. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in Trade Desk during the 4th quarter valued at about $13,042,000. Finally, Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Trade Desk during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,101,000. 67.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trade Desk Price Performance

Shares of Trade Desk stock traded down $0.78 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $13.03. The company had a trading volume of 29,871,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,753,303. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $18.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.70. The firm has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a PE ratio of 15.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.04. Trade Desk has a fifty-two week low of $12.83 and a fifty-two week high of $56.77.

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $688.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $678.87 million. Trade Desk had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 16.09%. The business’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Trade Desk will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Trade Desk Company Profile

The Trade Desk, Inc (NASDAQ: TTD) is a technology company that provides a demand-side platform (DSP) for programmatic digital advertising. Its platform enables advertisers, agencies and other buyers to plan, purchase and measure ad inventory across digital channels, including display, video, mobile, audio, native and connected TV. By centralizing real‑time bidding, audience targeting and inventory access, the company aims to help clients optimize media spend and reach audiences at scale across publishers and ad exchanges.

Founded in 2009 by Jeff Green and Dave Pickles, The Trade Desk grew from a focus on programmatic display into a global ad‑tech provider.