Chewy Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CHWY)

Chewy, Inc. (NYSE:CHWY) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 33,249 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 39% compared to the average volume of 23,866 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CHWY. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Chewy from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Chewy in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays lifted their target price on Chewy from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Chewy from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Chewy from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sumit Singh sold 71,161 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.50, for a total transaction of $2,312,732.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 77,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,529,735. This trade represents a 47.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Satish Mehta sold 83,639 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $3,345,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 334,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,368,720. The trade was a 20.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,553,371 shares of company stock worth $933,605,214. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CHWY. Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Chewy by 97.9% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,972,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,485,000 after purchasing an additional 975,647 shares during the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP acquired a new position in Chewy during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,949,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Chewy by 8.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,550,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,443,000 after buying an additional 119,633 shares during the period. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chewy in the fourth quarter worth $1,174,000. Finally, Simplify Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Chewy during the 3rd quarter worth $5,379,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Chewy Trading Down 5.3 %

Shares of CHWY traded down $1.91 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $33.99. The company had a trading volume of 4,664,730 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,650,777. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.44. Chewy has a 12-month low of $14.69 and a 12-month high of $40.09. The company has a market capitalization of $13.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.35, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.10.

Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 4th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.86 billion. Chewy had a return on equity of 24.47% and a net margin of 3.51%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.08) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Chewy will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

About Chewy

Chewy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the pure play e-commerce business in the United States. It provides pet food and treats, pet supplies and pet medications, and other pet-health products, as well as pet services for dogs, cats, fish, birds, small pets, horses, and reptiles through its retail websites and mobile applications.