GDS Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:GDS)

GDS Holdings (NASDAQ:GDS) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 10,546 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 467% compared to the average volume of 1,861 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of GDS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on shares of GDS in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded GDS from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Piper Sandler set a $36.00 target price on GDS in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded GDS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.04.

GDS Stock Performance

Shares of GDS stock traded up $1.06 on Monday, hitting $35.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 855,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,240,230. GDS has a fifty-two week low of $25.47 and a fifty-two week high of $48.61. The company has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a PE ratio of 22.32 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $40.60 and its 200-day moving average is $40.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.87.

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 15th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $1.56. GDS had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 15.62%. The firm had revenue of $426.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $436.44 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.47 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that GDS will post 5.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at GDS

In other GDS news, Director Judy Qing Ye sold 37,394 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.21, for a total transaction of $1,354,036.74. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 7.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GDS

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sachem Head Capital Management LP raised its holdings in GDS by 45.0% in the 4th quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP now owns 9,300,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $324,570,000 after acquiring an additional 2,885,000 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of GDS by 77.7% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,004,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,115,000 after purchasing an additional 3,062,658 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY increased its position in shares of GDS by 35.0% in the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 4,258,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $164,810,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104,756 shares during the period. Triata Capital Ltd raised its stake in GDS by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Triata Capital Ltd now owns 2,974,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,803,000 after purchasing an additional 566,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in GDS by 25.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,177,301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,723,000 after purchasing an additional 442,414 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.71% of the company’s stock.

GDS Company Profile

GDS Holdings Limited, founded in 2001 and headquartered in Shanghai, is a leading network-neutral data center services provider in China. The company operates a portfolio of state-of-the-art data center facilities designed to support the mission-critical IT infrastructure of cloud service providers, internet enterprises, financial institutions, and government entities. GDS was among the first Chinese providers to offer high-density colocation solutions, catering to customers with demanding computing and storage requirements.

GDS specializes in delivering scalable colocation, cross-connect, and interconnection services within its facilities, enabling clients to establish high-speed, low-latency connections to major cloud platforms and internet exchange points.