Investors Buy High Volume of Put Options on TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL)

TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 11,648 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 119% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,321 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on TAL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of TAL Education Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $15.00 in a report on Thursday, January 25th. TheStreet upgraded shares of TAL Education Group from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of TAL Education Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.37.

TAL Education Group Stock Performance

TAL traded down $0.44 on Tuesday, reaching $11.32. 3,765,399 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,015,199. TAL Education Group has a 52-week low of $5.09 and a 52-week high of $15.52. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $12.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.41.

TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.02). TAL Education Group had a negative net margin of 5.30% and a negative return on equity of 1.93%. The business had revenue of $373.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $330.96 million. Research analysts expect that TAL Education Group will post -0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TAL Education Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Yousif Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of TAL Education Group in the 1st quarter worth about $39,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in TAL Education Group by 50.5% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,191 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC bought a new stake in TAL Education Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $55,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new stake in TAL Education Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, Advisor Partners II LLC bought a new stake in TAL Education Group during the 4th quarter worth about $71,000. Institutional investors own 37.79% of the company’s stock.

TAL Education Group Company Profile

TAL Education Group provides K-12 after-school tutoring services in the People's Republic of China. The company offers tutoring services to K-12 students covering various academic subjects, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography, political science, English, and Chinese.