Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM)

Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZM) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 111,754 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 266% compared to the average daily volume of 30,516 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ZM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Zoom Video Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Zoom Video Communications from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Zoom Video Communications from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Zoom Video Communications from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Zoom Video Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.56.

Insider Activity

In other Zoom Video Communications news, CEO Eric S. Yuan sold 27,963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.98, for a total transaction of $1,733,146.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 95,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,896,777.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Eric S. Yuan sold 27,963 shares of Zoom Video Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.98, for a total value of $1,733,146.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 95,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,896,777.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Velchamy Sankarlingam sold 1,553 shares of Zoom Video Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $108,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 71,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,036,920. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 66,249 shares of company stock worth $4,252,841. 11.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Zoom Video Communications

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZM. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Zoom Video Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Zoom Video Communications by 269.7% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. AM Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Zoom Video Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. LM Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Zoom Video Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Zoom Video Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 66.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Zoom Video Communications Stock Performance

NASDAQ ZM opened at $59.08 on Thursday. Zoom Video Communications has a twelve month low of $58.87 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.17 billion, a PE ratio of 28.96 and a beta of -0.07. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.07.

Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.34. Zoom Video Communications had a return on equity of 9.68% and a net margin of 14.08%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Zoom Video Communications will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Zoom Video Communications

Zoom Video Communications, Inc provides unified communications platform in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company offers Zoom Meetings that offers HD video, voice, chat, and content sharing through mobile devices, desktops, laptops, telephones, and conference room systems; Zoom Phone, an enterprise cloud phone system; and Zoom Chat enables users to share messages, images, audio files, and content in desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile devices.