Maplebear Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:CART)

Maplebear Inc. (NASDAQ:CART) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 6,848 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 19% compared to the typical volume of 5,756 put options.

Maplebear Price Performance

Maplebear stock opened at $36.76 on Wednesday. Maplebear has a one year low of $34.87 and a one year high of $53.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $45.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.33. The company has a market capitalization of $9.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.25, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.22.

Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $914.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $896.55 million. Maplebear had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 13.76%.The firm’s revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Maplebear will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on CART. Citigroup lifted their target price on Maplebear from $57.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Maplebear from $64.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. BTIG Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Maplebear in a research report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Maplebear from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Maplebear from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.96.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Morgan Fong sold 4,680 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.16, for a total value of $230,068.80. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 452,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,220,320. This trade represents a 1.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Grosvenor L.P. Gcm sold 4,864,272 shares of Maplebear stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.75, for a total value of $232,268,988.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,986,367 shares of company stock worth $238,211,261. 26.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Maplebear

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its position in shares of Maplebear by 7.6% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 106,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,826,000 after purchasing an additional 7,578 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Maplebear by 485.0% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 96,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,382,000 after buying an additional 80,312 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Maplebear by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 44,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,020,000 after acquiring an additional 730 shares during the period. Stance Capital LLC bought a new position in Maplebear in the 2nd quarter worth $1,342,000. Finally, State of Wyoming lifted its position in Maplebear by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 10,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $455,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.09% of the company’s stock.

Maplebear Company Profile

Maplebear Inc, doing business as Instacart, engages in the provision of online grocery shopping services to households in North America. It sells and delivers grocery products, as well as pickup services through a mobile application and website. It also operates virtual convenience stores; and provides software-as-a-service solutions to retailers.