Tripadvisor Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:TRIP)

Tripadvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRIP) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 9,754 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 192% compared to the typical volume of 3,338 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on TRIP shares. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Tripadvisor from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Tripadvisor from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Tripadvisor in a report on Thursday, December 19th. B. Riley boosted their price objective on Tripadvisor from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of Tripadvisor in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tripadvisor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Tripadvisor by 204.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,298 shares of the travel company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,543 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in shares of Tripadvisor during the fourth quarter valued at about $308,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tripadvisor by 679.5% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 738,731 shares of the travel company’s stock worth $10,911,000 after purchasing an additional 643,963 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Tripadvisor in the fourth quarter worth about $1,053,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB bought a new stake in shares of Tripadvisor in the fourth quarter worth about $295,000. Institutional investors own 98.99% of the company’s stock.

Tripadvisor Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of TRIP opened at $17.66 on Friday. Tripadvisor has a fifty-two week low of $12.93 and a fifty-two week high of $28.76. The firm has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.79, a PEG ratio of 8.59 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $14.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Tripadvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The travel company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.06. Tripadvisor had a net margin of 1.98% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The business had revenue of $532.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $527.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Tripadvisor will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Tripadvisor Company Profile

TripAdvisor, Inc operates as an online travel company, primarily engages in the provision of travel guidance products and services worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Brand Tripadvisor, Viator, and TheFork. The Brand Tripadvisor segment offers travel guidance platforms for travelers to discover, generate, and share authentic user-generated content in the form of ratings and reviews for destinations, points-of-interest, experiences, accommodations, restaurants, and cruises.