Amer Sports Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:AS)

Amer Sports, Inc. (NYSE:AS) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 63,914 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,368% compared to the average daily volume of 4,353 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Amer Sports from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Amer Sports in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Amer Sports in a report on Friday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird set a $51.00 price target on shares of Amer Sports in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Amer Sports in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Amer Sports presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $49.70.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jie (James) Zheng sold 500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.42, for a total value of $17,210,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,262,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,451,291.70. This trade represents a 28.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Andrew E. Page sold 105,230 shares of Amer Sports stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.75, for a total transaction of $3,867,202.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,050.25. This trade represents a 96.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 833,580 shares of company stock valued at $29,200,266.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amer Sports

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AS. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Amer Sports in the 1st quarter valued at $565,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amer Sports by 44.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,173,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,372,000 after acquiring an additional 358,536 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Amer Sports by 103.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 16,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 8,330 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new position in Amer Sports during the second quarter worth about $472,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in Amer Sports by 276.3% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 2,470 shares during the period. 40.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amer Sports Stock Performance

NYSE AS traded down $0.25 during trading on Friday, reaching $32.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,588,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,420,747. Amer Sports has a twelve month low of $28.92 and a twelve month high of $42.76. The firm has a market cap of $18.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $35.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Amer Sports (NYSE:AS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 19th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. Amer Sports had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 6.50%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. Amer Sports has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.180-1.230 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Amer Sports will post 1.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Amer Sports

Amer Sports (NYSE:AS) is a Helsinki-based sporting goods group that designs, develops and markets performance-oriented equipment, apparel and footwear across multiple sports. The company focuses on product innovation, brand-driven marketing and global distribution to serve athletes and outdoor enthusiasts, offering goods for activities such as skiing, running, hiking, tennis, golf and diving.

Amer Sports’ portfolio comprises well-known sports and outdoor brands, including Salomon (outdoor footwear and winter sports), Atomic (alpine skis and ski equipment), Arc’teryx (technical outerwear and climbing gear), Wilson (racquet and ball sports equipment) and Suunto (precision instruments and sports watches).