Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR)

Smartsheet Inc (NYSE:SMAR) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors bought 4,384 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 157% compared to the average volume of 1,709 put options.

Smartsheet Price Performance

NYSE SMAR traded up $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $51.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 223,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,512,223. The company has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a PE ratio of -81.98 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.10. Smartsheet has a fifty-two week low of $35.52 and a fifty-two week high of $54.50.

Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $276.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.23 million. Smartsheet had a negative return on equity of 4.29% and a negative net margin of 4.07%. The company’s revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.23) earnings per share. Analysts expect that Smartsheet will post -0.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smartsheet declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 5th that allows the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 2.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SMAR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Smartsheet from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Smartsheet from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Smartsheet from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Smartsheet from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Smartsheet from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Smartsheet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.06.

Insider Activity

In other Smartsheet news, COO Stephen Robert Branstetter sold 4,272 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.42, for a total value of $189,762.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,833,773.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Smartsheet news, COO Stephen Robert Branstetter sold 4,272 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.42, for a total value of $189,762.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 63,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,833,773.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jolene Lau Marshall sold 3,994 shares of Smartsheet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.11, for a total value of $172,181.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $714,203.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,429 shares of company stock worth $916,925 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 4.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smartsheet

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Smartsheet by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,809,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $531,655,000 after purchasing an additional 225,390 shares during the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP lifted its stake in shares of Smartsheet by 9.2% in the second quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 4,251,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,399,000 after buying an additional 358,988 shares in the last quarter. Dorsal Capital Management LP boosted its position in Smartsheet by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Dorsal Capital Management LP now owns 3,225,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,220,000 after acquiring an additional 125,000 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its position in shares of Smartsheet by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 2,706,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,446,000 after purchasing an additional 224,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RGM Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Smartsheet by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. RGM Capital LLC now owns 2,223,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,023,000 after acquiring an additional 156,817 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Smartsheet Company Profile

Smartsheet, Inc engages in managing and automating collaborative work. Its platform provides solutions that eliminate the obstacles to capturing information, including a familiar and intuitive spreadsheet interface as well as easily customizable forms. The company was founded by W. Eric Browne, Maria Colacurcio, John D.