Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Unity Software (NYSE:U)

Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 57,980 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 9% compared to the average daily volume of 53,264 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on U. Wall Street Zen cut Unity Software from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Unity Software from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Unity Software in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Unity Software in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Unity Software from $47.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.04.

Unity Software Price Performance

U stock traded down $0.69 during trading on Thursday, hitting $26.59. The stock had a trading volume of 20,814,070 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,438,811. The stock has a market cap of $11.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $21.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.63. Unity Software has a 1-year low of $16.78 and a 1-year high of $52.15.

Unity Software (NYSE:U) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $503.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $490.64 million. Unity Software had a negative net margin of 21.77% and a negative return on equity of 4.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.30) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Unity Software will post 0.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Unity Software

In other Unity Software news, CFO Jarrod Yahes sold 6,205 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.03, for a total value of $130,491.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 728,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,317,852.43. This trade represents a 0.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Alexander Blum sold 2,541 shares of Unity Software stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.76, for a total transaction of $47,669.16. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 548,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,288,453. The trade was a 0.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 41,684 shares of company stock worth $773,350 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Unity Software

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in U. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Unity Software by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,556,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,383,647,000 after buying an additional 930,293 shares during the last quarter. Broad Peak Investment Advisers Pte Ltd grew its stake in Unity Software by 43.6% in the third quarter. Broad Peak Investment Advisers Pte Ltd now owns 2,849,437 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,091,000 after purchasing an additional 865,179 shares in the last quarter. Maytree Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in Unity Software by 112.0% in the third quarter. Maytree Asset Management Ltd now owns 217,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,723,000 after buying an additional 115,111 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in Unity Software during the third quarter valued at approximately $106,233,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Unity Software by 46.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 211,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,476,000 after acquiring an additional 67,219 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.46% of the company’s stock.

About Unity Software

Unity Software is a leading provider of a real-time 3D development platform that enables creators across industries to design, build and operate interactive, real-time experiences. Originally focused on the game development market, Unity’s technology now extends into sectors such as film, automotive, architecture, engineering and construction, delivering immersive content for mobile, desktop, console, augmented reality and virtual reality devices. The company’s core offering comprises a suite of authoring tools, runtime engines and cloud services that streamline the creation and deployment of interactive 3D applications.

The Unity Editor serves as the central hub where developers design scenes, script behavior and iterate on assets.