Hut 8 (NASDAQ:HUT) Stock Sees Unusually High Call Option Buying

Hut 8 Corp. (NASDAQ:HUT) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 35,812 call options on the company. This is an increase of 57% compared to the average daily volume of 22,823 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Sean Glennan sold 6,445 shares of Hut 8 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.76, for a total transaction of $507,608.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 17,978 shares in the company, valued at $1,415,947.28. This trade represents a 26.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Mayo Shattuck, III sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $2,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 89,408 shares in the company, valued at $8,940,800. This trade represents a 18.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HUT. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in Hut 8 by 130.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Hut 8 by 32.2% in the third quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hut 8 during the third quarter valued at approximately $722,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Hut 8 by 14.0% during the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 6,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $550,000 after buying an additional 786 shares during the period. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hut 8 by 368.9% during the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 5,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $515,000 after buying an additional 4,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 31.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Hut 8 from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Compass Point set a $195.00 price objective on Hut 8 in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Hut 8 in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Freedom Broker upgraded Hut 8 to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Hut 8 from $143.00 to $123.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.09.

Hut 8 Price Performance

Shares of HUT stock traded down $2.22 on Friday, reaching $61.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,690,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,948,364. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.14. Hut 8 has a 1 year low of $31.67 and a 1 year high of $140.80. The company has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.33 and a beta of 4.62. The company has a current ratio of 19.35, a quick ratio of 19.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.22.

Hut 8 (NASDAQ:HUT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($1.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.55) by ($0.72). Hut 8 had a negative net margin of 188.59% and a negative return on equity of 0.97%. The business had revenue of $74.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.37 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.18 EPS. Analysts forecast that Hut 8 will post -2.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hut 8 Company Profile

Hut 8 Corp. is a North American energy infrastructure and computing company whose business includes digital asset mining, high-performance computing and data center operations. The company develops and manages power and infrastructure assets intended to support energy-intensive computing applications.

Hut 8’s activities have historically centered on Bitcoin mining, supported by company-operated data centers and specialized mining equipment. It also provides infrastructure for emerging computing applications, including artificial intelligence and other high-performance computing workloads, as it seeks to expand beyond cryptocurrency mining.

The company was established in Canada and expanded its operations in the United States through its combination with U.S.