Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL)

TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 11,648 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 119% compared to the typical volume of 5,321 put options.

TAL Education Group Trading Down 3.7 %

TAL stock opened at $11.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a PE ratio of -102.91 and a beta of 0.15. TAL Education Group has a 12-month low of $5.09 and a 12-month high of $15.52. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.42.

TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $373.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $330.96 million. TAL Education Group had a negative return on equity of 1.93% and a negative net margin of 5.30%. On average, research analysts predict that TAL Education Group will post -0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of TAL Education Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 153,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,945,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in TAL Education Group by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,191 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC boosted its position in shares of TAL Education Group by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 284,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in TAL Education Group by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 20,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,000 after buying an additional 2,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in TAL Education Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 859,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,695,000 after buying an additional 2,943 shares during the last quarter. 37.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TAL has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of TAL Education Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $15.00 in a report on Thursday, January 25th. TheStreet upgraded TAL Education Group from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of TAL Education Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.37.

About TAL Education Group

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.