TaskUs Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:TASK)

TaskUs, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASK) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 3,193 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,123% compared to the average volume of 261 put options.

Insider Activity at TaskUs

In related news, COO Stephan Daoust sold 62,159 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.23, for a total value of $1,133,158.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Steven Amaya sold 2,600 shares of TaskUs stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.08, for a total transaction of $47,008.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 140,338 shares of company stock valued at $2,548,902. Corporate insiders own 29.26% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TaskUs

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in TaskUs by 71.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 699 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in shares of TaskUs in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of TaskUs in the 4th quarter valued at about $81,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of TaskUs during the fourth quarter worth about $83,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of TaskUs by 101.2% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 2,516 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 44.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on TASK shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on TaskUs from $16.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on TaskUs from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America upgraded TaskUs from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of TaskUs from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $21.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.25.

TaskUs Price Performance

TASK opened at $14.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.02, a quick ratio of 3.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.92, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 2.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $16.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.52. TaskUs has a 12-month low of $10.56 and a 12-month high of $19.60.

TaskUs (NASDAQ:TASK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $274.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $268.65 million. TaskUs had a net margin of 5.58% and a return on equity of 17.73%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that TaskUs will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

About TaskUs

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.