The social media company is cracking down after Wednesday's Capitol riots
The shares of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) are down 0.5% to trade at $47.95 at last check, following news that the social media company suspended more than 70,000 accounts that shared content related to QAnon. The news of the suspensions follows Twitter's ban of Trump's account, after the attack on the Capitol on Wednesday, January 6.
On the charts, TWTR has been continuing to move lower since its mid-December six-year high. In fact, a Jan. 11 bear gap sent the equity below its 40-day moving average for the first time since November. So far in 2021, the security has shed over 10%.
In response to today's news, at least two bull notes have rolled in for Twitter stock. Specifically, UBS and Cowen and Company raised their price targets to $52 and $48, respectively. Conversely, Rosenblatt Securities chimed in with a price-target cut to $39 from $40. Coming into today, seven of the 23 brokerages in coverage called the security a "strong buy," while the remaining 16 recommended a "hold."
Meanwhile, though short interest is down 15.2% during the last two reporting periods, the 21.77 million shares sold short still account for 2.8% of the stock's available float. In other words, it would take just over one day to buy back these bearish bets at TWTR's average pace of trading.
Today's options pits are flashing a unusual penchant for puts, even though calls outpace on overall basis. Already, over 42,000 puts have exchanged hands -- triple what's typically seen at this point with put volume pacing in the 96th percentile of its annual range. Still, most popular by far is the January 49 call, followed by the 50 call from the same series.