Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Chewy (NYSE:CHWY)

Chewy, Inc. (NYSE:CHWY) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 39,060 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 65% compared to the typical daily volume of 23,729 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Argos Holdings Gp Llc sold 7,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.77, for a total transaction of $250,390,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sumit Singh sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.52, for a total transaction of $150,080.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,457,159.12. The trade was a 0.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,726,333 shares of company stock worth $312,843,856. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Chewy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Chewy during the fourth quarter valued at $2,915,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Chewy by 97.9% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,972,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,485,000 after acquiring an additional 975,647 shares in the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new position in Chewy during the third quarter valued at $2,949,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Chewy during the fourth quarter valued at $69,789,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Chewy by 8.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,550,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,443,000 after acquiring an additional 119,633 shares in the last quarter. 93.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Chewy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Chewy in a report on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Chewy from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Chewy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $47.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Chewy from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chewy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.95.

Chewy Price Performance

Shares of CHWY stock opened at $33.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.21, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.23. Chewy has a one year low of $14.69 and a one year high of $40.09. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.95.

Chewy Company Profile

Chewy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the pure play e-commerce business in the United States. It provides pet food and treats, pet supplies and pet medications, and other pet-health products, as well as pet services for dogs, cats, fish, birds, small pets, horses, and reptiles through its retail websites and mobile applications.