Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Reddit (NYSE:RDDT)

Reddit Inc. (NYSE:RDDT) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 61,156 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 45% compared to the typical volume of 42,052 call options.

Insider Activity at Reddit

In related news, CTO Christopher Brian Slowe sold 15,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.67, for a total transaction of $2,335,385.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 38,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,787,686.71. This trade represents a 28.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Steve Ladd Huffman sold 18,000 shares of Reddit stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.26, for a total value of $3,208,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 373,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,636,083.64. The trade was a 4.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 223,000 shares of company stock valued at $36,913,785 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 28.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Reddit

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Reddit by 143.3% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 7,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $837,000 after buying an additional 4,701 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Reddit during the first quarter valued at $213,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Reddit by 106.3% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 216,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,759,000 after buying an additional 111,780 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its stake in shares of Reddit by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 10,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,073,000 after purchasing an additional 2,965 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Reddit by 344.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 369 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the period.

Reddit Trading Up 13.7%

Shares of RDDT stock traded up $23.84 on Wednesday, reaching $197.42. 8,749,190 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,227,284. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.01 billion, a PE ratio of 56.41 and a beta of 1.91. Reddit has a 52 week low of $119.27 and a 52 week high of $282.95. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $162.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.21.

Reddit (NYSE:RDDT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $663.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $607.74 million. Reddit had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 25.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 69.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Reddit will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RDDT has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Reddit from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $110.00 price target on shares of Reddit in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Reddit in a report on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Reddit from $285.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price target (up from $205.00) on shares of Reddit in a report on Friday, May 1st. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.75.

About Reddit

Reddit is an online social news aggregation, discussion and content-sharing platform organized around user-created communities called “subreddits,” each focused on a particular topic or interest. Registered users submit links, text posts, images and video, and community members vote and comment to surface popular content. The site is accessed via its web platform and mobile apps for iOS and Android, and it supports live events such as Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions and community-driven discussions.

Founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, Reddit is headquartered in San Francisco and serves a global audience with particularly large user bases in the United States and other English-speaking markets.