New Oriental Education & Technology Group Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:EDU)

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 1,855 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 115% compared to the typical daily volume of 862 put options.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of EDU stock traded down $0.32 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $46.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,669,052 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,057,776. New Oriental Education & Technology Group has a one year low of $44.46 and a one year high of $98.20. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $60.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.19. The company has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82 and a beta of 0.44.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.45 billion. New Oriental Education & Technology Group had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 9.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 30.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that New Oriental Education & Technology Group will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $83.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Macquarie downgraded shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $85.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.40.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New Oriental Education & Technology Group

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EDU. Aspex Management HK Ltd raised its stake in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 46.7% during the third quarter. Aspex Management HK Ltd now owns 4,753,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,493,000 after acquiring an additional 1,513,640 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 20,215.2% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 994,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,418,000 after buying an additional 989,536 shares during the period. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 139.0% in the 2nd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,469,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,231,000 after buying an additional 854,590 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 192.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 826,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,703,000 after buying an additional 543,810 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in New Oriental Education & Technology Group by 147.5% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 731,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,880,000 after acquiring an additional 436,098 shares during the last quarter.

About New Oriental Education & Technology Group

New Oriental Education & Technology Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of private educational services. It operates through the following segments: Educational Services and Test Preparation Courses, Private Label Products and Livestreaming E-Commerce, Overseas Study Consulting Services, and Educational Materials and Distribution.