Traders Purchase Large Volume of NU Call Options (NYSE:NU)

Nu Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NU) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders purchased 123,974 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 67% compared to the average daily volume of 74,309 call options.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Anita M. Sands sold 21,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.24, for a total transaction of $257,040.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 162,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,984,716. This trade represents a 11.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NU

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NU. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its stake in NU by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 257,256,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,306,481,000 after purchasing an additional 5,797,365 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in NU by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 121,350,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,031,411,000 after buying an additional 3,419,077 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in NU by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 91,478,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,464,569,000 after buying an additional 239,660 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in NU by 8.6% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 45,966,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $660,545,000 after buying an additional 3,656,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NU in the fourth quarter valued at $763,792,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of NU from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of NU in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. CICC Research began coverage on shares of NU in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $18.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of NU from $18.10 to $16.90 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of NU from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.24.

NU Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of NU stock opened at $14.03 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $68.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.75. NU has a fifty-two week low of $11.20 and a fifty-two week high of $18.98.

NU (NYSE:NU) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 15th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $5.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. NU had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 30.91%. On average, equities analysts forecast that NU will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NU announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, June 4th that allows the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About NU

Nu Holdings Ltd (NYSE: NU), commonly known by its consumer brand Nubank, is a Latin American financial technology company that provides digital banking and financial services through a mobile-first platform. The company’s core offerings include no-fee digital checking accounts, credit cards, personal loans, payments and transfers, and a range of savings and investment products. Nubank emphasizes a streamlined customer experience delivered via its smartphone app, combined with data-driven underwriting and automated customer service tools.

Founded in 2013 by David Vélez, Cristina Junqueira and Edward Wible, Nu grew rapidly by targeting underbanked and digitally savvy consumers in Latin America with low-fee, transparent products.