SEA (NYSE:SE) Stock Sees Heavy Call Option Buying

Sea Limited Sponsored ADR (NYSE:SE) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 11,763 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 33% compared to the typical volume of 8,816 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SE shares. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded SEA from a “sector perform” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Weiss Ratings raised SEA from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of SEA in a report on Monday, July 20th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of SEA in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price objective on SEA from $140.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Yanjun Wang sold 1,000 shares of SEA stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.43, for a total transaction of $95,430.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 77,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,422,545.40. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Feng Zhao sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.02, for a total transaction of $3,800,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 93,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,891,971.60. This trade represents a 29.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,128,586 shares of company stock valued at $258,287,740. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SEA

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capstone Capital Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of SEA during the first quarter valued at $1,612,000. Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of SEA in the 2nd quarter worth about $8,191,000. Corient Private Wealth LP boosted its stake in SEA by 61.4% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 26,534 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore’s stock worth $2,543,000 after purchasing an additional 10,099 shares in the last quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA boosted its stake in SEA by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 283,921 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore’s stock worth $27,644,000 after purchasing an additional 17,657 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC bought a new position in SEA in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,159,000. 59.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SEA Stock Down 8.0%

SE traded down $7.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $81.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,324,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,801,810. SEA has a 1 year low of $77.05 and a 1 year high of $171.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $107.19 and its 200-day moving average is $98.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.41, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

SEA (NYSE:SE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The Internet company based in Singapore reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $7.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.12 billion. SEA had a return on equity of 13.54% and a net margin of 5.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that SEA will post 2.91 EPS for the current year.

About SEA

Sea Limited is a Singapore-based global technology company founded in 2009. Formerly known as Garena, the company operates digital businesses serving consumers and merchants primarily in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and selected markets in Latin America and other regions.

Through Shopee, Sea’s e-commerce platform, the company provides online marketplaces that connect buyers and sellers and offer supporting services such as payments, logistics and merchant tools. Garena, its digital entertainment business, develops and publishes online games and distributes third-party titles, while also operating digital entertainment platforms and services.

SeaMoney is the company’s digital financial services division.