Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL)

TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 20,053 call options on the company. This is an increase of 3,455% compared to the typical daily volume of 564 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of TAL Education Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. New Street Research set a $13.60 price objective on TAL Education Group in a report on Friday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on TAL Education Group in a research note on Friday, July 31st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Zacks Research upgraded TAL Education Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised TAL Education Group from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $14.80.

TAL Education Group Price Performance

TAL opened at $12.86 on Friday. TAL Education Group has a fifty-two week low of $8.88 and a fifty-two week high of $13.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.98, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.09. The company’s 50-day moving average is $11.97 and its 200 day moving average is $11.02.

TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.46. TAL Education Group had a net margin of 28.43% and a return on equity of 24.55%. The business had revenue of $758.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $719.40 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that TAL Education Group will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Alex Peng sold 30,000 shares of TAL Education Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.28, for a total transaction of $368,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,144 shares in the company, valued at $185,968.32. This trade represents a 66.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of TAL Education Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Walleye Capital LLC raised its position in TAL Education Group by 434.9% in the first quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 45,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,000 after acquiring an additional 37,283 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TAL Education Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of TAL Education Group by 97.6% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 348,899 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,967,000 after purchasing an additional 172,328 shares during the last quarter. SEB Asset Management AB bought a new stake in shares of TAL Education Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $13,010,000. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new position in TAL Education Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $436,000. 37.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About TAL Education Group

TAL Education Group is a Chinese education and learning services company that provides programs, products and services designed to support students and families. The company serves primarily school-age learners and has historically operated through a combination of physical learning centers, online platforms and technology-enabled educational offerings.

Founded in 2003 as Xueersi, TAL became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2010. Its business has included academic and enrichment programs, educational content, learning applications, tutoring services and related technology products.