The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) Short Interest Update

The Trade Desk, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 16,410,000 shares, a growth of 20.3% from the February 13th total of 13,640,000 shares. Currently, 3.7% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,900,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Trade Desk Trading Down 5.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:TTD opened at $53.59 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $95.03 and a 200-day moving average of $110.89. The firm has a market cap of $26.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.63. Trade Desk has a twelve month low of $53.39 and a twelve month high of $141.53.

Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.21). Trade Desk had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 16.38%. Equities research analysts forecast that Trade Desk will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Trade Desk announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $564.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Terry Green sold 18,207 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.44, for a total value of $2,283,886.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 704,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,338,485.76. The trade was a 2.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jay R. Grant sold 18,524 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.35, for a total transaction of $2,210,839.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 169,464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,225,528.40. The trade was a 9.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,029 shares of company stock worth $5,004,296 in the last quarter. 9.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Trade Desk

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new stake in Trade Desk during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Trade Desk during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Trade Desk by 68.8% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 287 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Trade Desk in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its position in shares of Trade Desk by 148.3% in the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 293 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. 67.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on TTD shares. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Trade Desk to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Trade Desk from $142.00 to $101.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Trade Desk from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Trade Desk from $116.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Trade Desk from $140.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.10.

About Trade Desk

The Trade Desk, Inc operates as a technology company in the United States and internationally. The company offers a self-service cloud-based platform that allows buyers to plan, manage, optimize, and measure data-driven digital advertising campaigns across various ad formats and channels, including video, display, audio, digital-out-of-home, native, and social on various devices, such as computers, mobile devices, televisions, and streaming devices.