Chewy Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CHWY)

Chewy, Inc. (NYSE:CHWY) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 110,923 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 68% compared to the typical daily volume of 65,972 call options.

Chewy Stock Up 11.1 %

Shares of CHWY opened at $28.74 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 159.56, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.36. Chewy has a twelve month low of $14.69 and a twelve month high of $39.10.

Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.11. Chewy had a net margin of 0.73% and a return on equity of 16.62%. The firm had revenue of $2.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.85 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Chewy will post 0.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chewy

In other news, major shareholder Argos Holdings Gp Llc sold 1,338,262 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.32, for a total value of $40,576,103.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CTO Satish Mehta sold 2,894 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.24, for a total transaction of $64,362.56. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 573,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,753,817.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Argos Holdings Gp Llc sold 1,338,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.32, for a total transaction of $40,576,103.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,906,141 shares of company stock worth $540,973,233 over the last three months. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Chewy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Chewy in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,798,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Chewy by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 91,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,501,000 after purchasing an additional 9,039 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Chewy by 39.3% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 20,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $565,000 after purchasing an additional 5,847 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Chewy by 74.0% in the 2nd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 49,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,344,000 after purchasing an additional 20,998 shares during the period. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Chewy in the 2nd quarter worth about $11,916,000. 93.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CHWY. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Chewy from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Chewy from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Raymond James lowered shares of Chewy from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Chewy in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Argus cut shares of Chewy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.90.

Chewy Company Profile

Chewy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the pure play e-commerce business in the United States. It provides pet food and treats, pet supplies and pet medications, and other pet-health products, as well as pet services for dogs, cats, fish, birds, small pets, horses, and reptiles through its retail websites and mobile applications.