TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) Stock Sees Unusually High Call Option Buying

TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 20,053 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 3,455% compared to the typical volume of 564 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Alex Peng sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.28, for a total value of $368,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 15,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $185,968.32. This represents a 66.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.81% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TAL Education Group

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TAL Education Group by 53.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 839 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in TAL Education Group in the 1st quarter valued at $50,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new stake in TAL Education Group in the 1st quarter valued at $109,000. Impact Investors Inc acquired a new position in TAL Education Group in the 1st quarter worth $135,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in TAL Education Group in the 1st quarter worth $137,000. Institutional investors own 37.79% of the company’s stock.

TAL Education Group Stock Up 3.2%

NYSE TAL traded up $0.40 on Friday, reaching $12.88. The company had a trading volume of 944,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,044,752. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $11.97 and its 200-day moving average is $11.01. TAL Education Group has a 52 week low of $8.88 and a 52 week high of $13.37. The stock has a market cap of $7.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.98, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.09.

TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $758.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $719.40 million. TAL Education Group had a net margin of 28.43% and a return on equity of 24.55%. As a group, analysts forecast that TAL Education Group will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on TAL Education Group in a research report on Friday, July 31st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered TAL Education Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Zacks Research raised TAL Education Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of TAL Education Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, New Street Research set a $13.60 target price on shares of TAL Education Group in a research note on Friday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.80.

TAL Education Group Company Profile

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.