SK Telecom Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:SKM)

SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 14,009 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 171% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,160 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. HSBC upgraded shares of SK Telecom from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of SK Telecom from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of SK Telecom from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of SK Telecom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of SK Telecom from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

SK Telecom Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SKM traded up $1.78 during trading on Thursday, reaching $35.72. The stock had a trading volume of 1,263,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,130,031. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.18. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $35.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.18. The stock has a market cap of $13.71 billion, a PE ratio of 59.32, a PEG ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 0.63. SK Telecom has a 1-year low of $19.66 and a 1-year high of $47.18.

SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.10. SK Telecom had a return on equity of 2.78% and a net margin of 2.03%.The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.98 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that SK Telecom will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SK Telecom

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in SK Telecom by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,462,769 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $50,561,000 after acquiring an additional 374,428 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of SK Telecom by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,253,677 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $48,679,000 after purchasing an additional 60,242 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SK Telecom by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,117,361 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock worth $22,939,000 after purchasing an additional 12,672 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of SK Telecom by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 923,579 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $18,961,000 after purchasing an additional 12,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of SK Telecom by 9.6% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 886,930 shares of the Wireless communications provider’s stock valued at $19,158,000 after purchasing an additional 77,763 shares in the last quarter.

SK Telecom Company Profile

SK Telecom Co, Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) is South Korea’s largest wireless carrier, offering a comprehensive range of mobile telecommunications services. The company operates 5G, 4G LTE and IoT networks, providing voice, data and messaging solutions to consumers and businesses. Beyond traditional wireless services, SK Telecom delivers fixed-line broadband, digital content platforms, cloud computing and cybersecurity offerings designed to support enterprise digital transformation and the growing demand for high-speed connectivity.

Established in 1984 as Korea Mobile Telecommunications Services, SK Telecom pioneered cellular service commercialization in South Korea and has continually expanded into new technology areas.