Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) Trading Down 8.1% After Analyst Downgrade

The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) shares fell 8.1% on Monday after HSBC downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a reduce rating. HSBC now has a $20.00 price target on the stock. Trade Desk traded as low as $20.91 and last traded at $21.22. 4,043,825 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 18,228,129 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.08.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on TTD. Morgan Stanley set a $26.00 target price on shares of Trade Desk in a research note on Friday. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Trade Desk in a research note on Friday. UBS Group set a $31.00 target price on shares of Trade Desk and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Trade Desk in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Trade Desk from $49.00 to $40.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kathryn E. Falberg sold 102,828 shares of Trade Desk stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.45, for a total transaction of $3,131,112.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,255.70. This trade represents a 98.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 11.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Trade Desk by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,586 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $539,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Trade Desk by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,480 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its stake in Trade Desk by 75.5% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 5,275 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 2,269 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Trade Desk by 46.6% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 59,785 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,304,000 after buying an additional 19,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. lifted its stake in Trade Desk by 14.7% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 42,819 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,083,000 after buying an additional 5,487 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.77% of the company’s stock.

Trade Desk Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.86. The stock has a market cap of $10.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.10.

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.24). Trade Desk had a net margin of 14.57% and a return on equity of 16.91%. The company had revenue of $688.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $678.87 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that The Trade Desk will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Trade Desk declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 25th that authorizes the company to repurchase $350.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.