Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on KE (NYSE:BEKE)

KE Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BEKE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Investors bought 21,284 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 81% compared to the typical daily volume of 11,738 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on BEKE. HSBC cut their price objective on KE from $23.90 to $21.80 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $21.10 price objective on shares of KE in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KE

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of KE by 90.4% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,304 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 1,569 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of KE during the 4th quarter valued at about $76,000. Barometer Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of KE during the fourth quarter worth about $123,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of KE by 11.2% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 9,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in KE by 358.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 7,737 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.34% of the company’s stock.

KE Stock Up 7.4 %

NYSE:BEKE traded up $1.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $14.83. 25,875,046 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,965,589. KE has a one year low of $12.44 and a one year high of $19.95. The company has a market cap of $18.29 billion, a PE ratio of 21.49, a PEG ratio of 0.37 and a beta of -0.73. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.57.

KE (NYSE:BEKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.03. KE had a net margin of 7.62% and a return on equity of 9.19%. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.66 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that KE will post 0.77 EPS for the current year.

KE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th were paid a $0.351 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.2%. KE’s payout ratio is 44.93%.

About KE

KE Holdings Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in operating an integrated online and offline platform for housing transactions and services in the People's Republic of China. It operates through four segments: Existing Home Transaction Services, New Home Transaction Services, Home Renovation and Furnishing, and Emerging and Other Services.