TaskUs Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:TASK)

TaskUs, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASK) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 3,193 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,123% compared to the average daily volume of 261 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on TASK shares. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on TaskUs from $16.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America raised shares of TaskUs from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of TaskUs from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.00.

TaskUs Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TASK traded down $0.70 during trading on Thursday, reaching $14.95. The stock had a trading volume of 714,002 shares, compared to its average volume of 344,801. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $16.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.52. TaskUs has a 1-year low of $10.56 and a 1-year high of $19.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 3.02 and a current ratio of 3.02. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 25.51, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 2.21.

TaskUs (NASDAQ:TASK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.12). TaskUs had a net margin of 5.58% and a return on equity of 17.73%. The company had revenue of $274.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $268.65 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that TaskUs will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Stephan Daoust sold 62,159 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.23, for a total transaction of $1,133,158.57. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Steven Amaya sold 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.08, for a total value of $47,008.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,338 shares of company stock valued at $2,548,902 over the last three months. 29.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of TaskUs

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Think Investments LP grew its position in TaskUs by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Think Investments LP now owns 2,881,513 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,813,000 after acquiring an additional 364,608 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TaskUs by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 957,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,223,000 after purchasing an additional 69,704 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in shares of TaskUs by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 742,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,581,000 after purchasing an additional 73,100 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of TaskUs by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 497,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,430,000 after purchasing an additional 32,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in TaskUs by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 471,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,979,000 after buying an additional 23,713 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.64% of the company’s stock.

TaskUs Company Profile

TaskUs, Inc provides digital outsourcing services for companies in Philippines, the United States, India, and internationally. It offers digital customer experience that consists of omni-channel customer care services primarily delivered through non-voice digital channels; and other solutions, including experience and customer care services for new product or market launches, and customer acquisition solutions.