The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) Short Interest Up 20.3% in February

The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 16,410,000 shares, a growth of 20.3% from the February 13th total of 13,640,000 shares. Currently, 3.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 6,900,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Trade Desk

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Terry Green sold 18,207 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.44, for a total transaction of $2,283,886.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 704,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,338,485.76. This represents a 2.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Samantha Jacobson sold 4,298 shares of Trade Desk stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.56, for a total transaction of $509,570.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 90,709 shares in the company, valued at $10,754,459.04. This trade represents a 4.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,029 shares of company stock worth $5,004,296 in the last quarter. 9.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Trade Desk

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TTD. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new stake in Trade Desk in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Trade Desk in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Trade Desk by 68.8% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 287 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Trade Desk during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Trade Desk during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 67.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Trade Desk from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 30th. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on shares of Trade Desk from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Trade Desk from $116.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Trade Desk from $142.00 to $101.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Benchmark raised Trade Desk from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $117.10.

Trade Desk Stock Performance

TTD traded down $2.29 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $54.21. The stock had a trading volume of 2,800,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,499,618. Trade Desk has a 1 year low of $53.42 and a 1 year high of $141.53. The business has a fifty day moving average of $96.38 and a 200 day moving average of $111.25. The company has a market cap of $26.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.63.

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.21). Trade Desk had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 16.38%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Trade Desk will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Trade Desk declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $564.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Trade Desk Company Profile

The Trade Desk, Inc operates as a technology company in the United States and internationally. The company offers a self-service cloud-based platform that allows buyers to plan, manage, optimize, and measure data-driven digital advertising campaigns across various ad formats and channels, including video, display, audio, digital-out-of-home, native, and social on various devices, such as computers, mobile devices, televisions, and streaming devices.