Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND)

Beyond Meat, Inc. (NASDAQ:BYND) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 34,041 call options on the company. This is an increase of 108% compared to the average daily volume of 16,349 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BYND shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Beyond Meat from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays decreased their target price on Beyond Meat from $3.00 to $2.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th.

Beyond Meat Stock Performance

BYND stock opened at $2.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $211.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.66 and a beta of 2.18. Beyond Meat has a fifty-two week low of $2.23 and a fifty-two week high of $9.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $2.84 and a 200-day moving average of $3.74.

Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.67) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.52) by ($0.15). The business’s revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.84) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Beyond Meat will post -2.1 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Beyond Meat by 128.7% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 1,302,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,899,000 after acquiring an additional 733,168 shares during the period. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC bought a new position in Beyond Meat in the 4th quarter worth about $1,746,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Beyond Meat by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 131,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,000 after purchasing an additional 49,875 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Beyond Meat by 305.1% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 7,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 5,940 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Beyond Meat in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors own 52.48% of the company’s stock.

Beyond Meat Company Profile

Beyond Meat, Inc, a plant-based meat company, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells plant-based meat products in the United States and internationally. The company sells a range of plant-based meat products across the platforms of beef, pork, and poultry. It sells its products through grocery, mass merchandiser, club stores, and natural retailer channels, as well as various food-away-from-home channels, including restaurants, foodservice outlets, and schools.