Investors Purchase High Volume of Futu Call Options (NASDAQ:FUTU)

Futu Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:FUTU) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 14,636 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 59% compared to the typical volume of 9,189 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Natixis Advisors L.P. bought a new position in shares of Futu in the 3rd quarter worth about $649,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Futu by 7.4% in the third quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 69,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,029,000 after buying an additional 4,829 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its stake in Futu by 24.2% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 14,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $838,000 after buying an additional 2,824 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Futu by 117.4% during the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 99,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,745,000 after buying an additional 53,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Futu during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $510,000.

Futu Stock Performance

Shares of Futu stock traded up $0.86 during trading on Friday, hitting $69.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,606,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,538,820. Futu has a 52 week low of $39.42 and a 52 week high of $81.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $71.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.36.

Futu (NASDAQ:FUTU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 28th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $331.27 million for the quarter. Futu had a return on equity of 17.16% and a net margin of 40.86%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Futu will post 4.68 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FUTU has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Futu from $76.90 to $75.30 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Futu from $81.00 to $85.80 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Futu from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, CLSA raised Futu from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, March 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.37.

About Futu

Futu Holdings Limited provides digitalized securities brokerage and wealth management product distribution service in Hong Kong and internationally. It offers online financial services, including securities and derivative trades brokerage, margin financing and fund distribution services through its Futubull and Moomoo digital platforms.