Stagwell (NASDAQ:STGW) Stock Sees Unusually High Call Option Buying

Stagwell Inc. (NASDAQ:STGW) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 19,186 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 3,500% compared to the average volume of 533 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. B. Riley Financial boosted their price target on Stagwell from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Stagwell from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Stagwell from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Stagwell in a research note on Monday, October 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $13.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Stagwell from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Stagwell news, insider Frank Lanuto sold 62,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.46, for a total value of $524,520.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 491,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,162,125.42. This represents a 11.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Stagwell

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in Stagwell in the second quarter worth $117,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Stagwell in the 2nd quarter valued at $52,000. Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new stake in Stagwell in the 2nd quarter valued at $238,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Stagwell by 86.6% in the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 80,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $600,000 after buying an additional 37,485 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stagwell in the 2nd quarter valued at $141,000. 35.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Stagwell Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:STGW opened at $8.78 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.41 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50-day moving average of $8.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $7.56. Stagwell has a fifty-two week low of $4.28 and a fifty-two week high of $9.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Stagwell (NASDAQ:STGW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.06. Stagwell had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 0.53%. The business had revenue of $786.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $754.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Stagwell has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.030-1.170 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Stagwell will post 0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Stagwell

Stagwell Inc (NASDAQ: STGW) is a global marketing and communications network that provides services to businesses, government organizations and other institutions. The company combines creative, media, digital transformation, public relations, strategic consulting, consumer insights and data-driven marketing capabilities through a network of specialized agencies.

Its services include brand strategy and development, advertising, media planning and buying, public affairs, corporate communications, public relations, social media, technology consulting, website and product design, customer experience and analytics.