Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of TAL Education Group Call Options (NYSE:TAL)

TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders purchased 18,091 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 237% compared to the average volume of 5,368 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on TAL shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of TAL Education Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $11.60 price target for the company in a report on Monday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised TAL Education Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on TAL Education Group in a report on Tuesday, November 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $10.50 price target on the stock.

TAL Education Group Stock Up 3.8 %

NYSE TAL opened at $9.86 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $6.29 billion and a PE ratio of -65.73. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $7.28. TAL Education Group has a 52 week low of $4.74 and a 52 week high of $10.58.

TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $411.93 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $380.91 million. TAL Education Group had a negative return on equity of 2.65% and a negative net margin of 8.25%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that TAL Education Group will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TAL. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its stake in TAL Education Group by 135.4% in the first quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 244,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 140,916 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of TAL Education Group by 50.3% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,250,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,762,000 after buying an additional 418,100 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of TAL Education Group during the 1st quarter worth $140,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in TAL Education Group by 10.8% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 86,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 8,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in TAL Education Group by 4.1% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 19,736,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,406,000 after acquiring an additional 780,929 shares during the last quarter. 37.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

TAL Education Group Company Profile

TAL Education Group provides K-12 after-school tutoring services in the People's Republic of China. The company offers tutoring services to K-12 students covering various academic subjects, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography, political science, English, and Chinese.