Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Smartsheet Call Options (NYSE:SMAR)

Smartsheet Inc (NYSE:SMAR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 2,301 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 99% compared to the typical volume of 1,157 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jolene Lau Marshall sold 3,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.18, for a total value of $180,241.38. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,100 shares in the company, valued at $823,878. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Smartsheet news, insider Jolene Lau Marshall sold 3,741 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.18, for a total value of $180,241.38. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $823,878. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Stephen Robert Branstetter sold 2,004 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $96,192.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 61,791 shares in the company, valued at $2,965,968. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,929 shares of company stock valued at $1,446,805. Company insiders own 4.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMAR. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Smartsheet by 20.3% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 147,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,671,000 after buying an additional 24,823 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Smartsheet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,879,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Smartsheet by 218.0% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 19,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $876,000 after buying an additional 13,621 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Smartsheet in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,512,000. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Smartsheet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,219,000. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on SMAR shares. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Smartsheet from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Smartsheet from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Smartsheet in a research note on Friday. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $56.00 price target on shares of Smartsheet in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Smartsheet from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.94.

Smartsheet Price Performance

Shares of Smartsheet stock traded up $4.37 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $53.72. The company had a trading volume of 1,357,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,469,134. The firm has a market cap of $7.43 billion, a PE ratio of -85.37 and a beta of 0.74. Smartsheet has a fifty-two week low of $35.52 and a fifty-two week high of $54.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $46.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.46.

Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $276.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.23 million. Smartsheet had a negative return on equity of 12.06% and a negative net margin of 8.35%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.23) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Smartsheet will post -0.21 EPS for the current year.

Smartsheet Company Profile

Smartsheet, Inc engages in managing and automating collaborative work. Its platform provides solutions that eliminate the obstacles to capturing information, including a familiar and intuitive spreadsheet interface as well as easily customizable forms. The company was founded by W. Eric Browne, Maria Colacurcio, John D.