Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Infosys (NYSE:INFY)

Infosys Limited (NYSE:INFY) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 5,154 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 89% compared to the typical volume of 2,728 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Infosys

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Infosys by 37.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 25,963 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $578,000 after acquiring an additional 7,066 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Infosys by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 223,907 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,986,000 after purchasing an additional 65,189 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its position in shares of Infosys by 0.3% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 3,309,869 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $73,711,000 after buying an additional 10,521 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in Infosys by 4.6% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 3,089,058 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $68,793,000 after acquiring an additional 135,911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Infosys by 6,071.1% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,739,830 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $105,556,000 after acquiring an additional 4,663,023 shares during the last quarter. 16.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on INFY. CLSA raised shares of Infosys from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Infosys from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised Infosys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. HSBC upgraded shares of Infosys from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Infosys in a report on Friday, January 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.22.

Infosys Price Performance

NYSE INFY traded down $0.30 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $19.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,221,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,248,694. Infosys has a 12 month low of $16.04 and a 12 month high of $23.63. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.20. The company has a market cap of $81.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 1.01.

Infosys (NYSE:INFY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The technology company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.19. Infosys had a return on equity of 31.60% and a net margin of 17.28%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Infosys will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Infosys

Infosys Ltd. is a digital services and consulting company, which engages in the provision of end-to-end business solutions. It operates through the following segments: Financial Services, Retail, Communication, Energy, Utilities, Resources, and Services, Manufacturing, Hi-Tech, Life Sciences, and All Other.