GameStop Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:GME)

GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 123,959 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 81% compared to the average daily volume of 68,382 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of GameStop from $6.00 to $5.60 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of GameStop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th.

Insider Activity

In other GameStop news, Director Lawrence Cheng acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $11.22 per share, for a total transaction of $112,200.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 65,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $730,287.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, General Counsel Mark Haymond Robinson sold 13,471 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.15, for a total transaction of $136,730.65. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 50,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $515,995.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lawrence Cheng bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $11.22 per share, with a total value of $112,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,088 shares in the company, valued at $730,287.36. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,428 shares of company stock worth $205,702. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of GameStop by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,450,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $446,143,000 after purchasing an additional 167,145 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of GameStop by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,606,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,693,000 after purchasing an additional 289,947 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of GameStop by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,137,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,176,000 after purchasing an additional 16,875 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in GameStop by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,932,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,812,000 after acquiring an additional 40,602 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in GameStop by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,331,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,342,000 after acquiring an additional 100,084 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 29.21% of the company’s stock.

GameStop Trading Up 7.5 %

GME opened at $10.93 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a PE ratio of 546.25 and a beta of -0.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. GameStop has a 1-year low of $9.95 and a 1-year high of $27.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $12.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.11.

GameStop (NYSE:GME) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 26th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.05 billion. GameStop had a net margin of 0.13% and a return on equity of 1.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.16 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that GameStop will post 0.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About GameStop

GameStop Corp., a specialty retailer, provides games and entertainment products through its stores and ecommerce platforms in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. The company sells new and pre-owned gaming platforms; accessories, such as controllers, gaming headsets, and virtual reality products; new and pre-owned gaming software; and in-game digital currency, digital downloadable content, and full-game downloads.