Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Dropbox (NASDAQ:DBX)

Dropbox, Inc. (NASDAQ:DBX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 15,088 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 327% compared to the typical volume of 3,532 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Dropbox from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th.

Dropbox Price Performance

NASDAQ:DBX traded down $4.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $27.41. 2,418,769 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,880,416. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $31.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.17, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.61. Dropbox has a 12-month low of $20.68 and a 12-month high of $33.33.

Dropbox (NASDAQ:DBX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.11). Dropbox had a net margin of 22.71% and a negative return on equity of 135.85%. The business had revenue of $643.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $638.61 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Dropbox will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Andrew Houston sold 137,499 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total transaction of $4,131,844.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 8,266,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $248,413,313.30. This trade represents a 1.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Timothy Regan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.38, for a total transaction of $75,950.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 413,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,570,150.32. The trade was a 0.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 900,238 shares of company stock valued at $26,680,195 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 28.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dropbox

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Dropbox by 4.5% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,788,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,065,000 after buying an additional 333,245 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Dropbox by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,446,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $193,641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245,563 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Dropbox by 6.2% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 6,239,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $158,670,000 after purchasing an additional 365,893 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Dropbox by 38.1% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,224,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,955,000 after buying an additional 1,440,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Dropbox by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,366,271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,368,000 after buying an additional 25,893 shares in the last quarter. 94.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Dropbox

Dropbox, Inc provides a content collaboration platform worldwide. The company's platform allows individuals, families, teams, and organizations to collaborate and sign up for free through its website or app, as well as upgrade to a paid subscription plan for premium features. It serves customers in professional services, technology, media, education, industrial, consumer and retail, and financial services industries.