Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on PENN Entertainment (NASDAQ:PENN)

PENN Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PENN) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 10,086 call options on the company. This is an increase of 82% compared to the average volume of 5,550 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PENN shares. Citizens Jmp dropped their price target on shares of PENN Entertainment from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of PENN Entertainment in a report on Monday, December 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on PENN Entertainment from $19.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised PENN Entertainment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of PENN Entertainment in a report on Monday, December 1st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.56.

PENN Entertainment Price Performance

Shares of PENN stock traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $14.10. The stock had a trading volume of 1,454,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,014,951. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.22 and a beta of 1.40. PENN Entertainment has a one year low of $13.24 and a one year high of $23.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $15.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.29.

PENN Entertainment (NASDAQ:PENN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($0.12). PENN Entertainment had a negative net margin of 13.24% and a negative return on equity of 4.59%. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.24) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that PENN Entertainment will post -1.61 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David A. Handler purchased 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $14.25 per share, with a total value of $285,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 362,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,171,909.25. This trade represents a 5.83% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Felicia Hendrix purchased 7,315 shares of PENN Entertainment stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was bought at an average price of $13.79 per share, with a total value of $100,873.85. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 119,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,647,187.92. This represents a 6.52% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have purchased a total of 62,015 shares of company stock valued at $882,778 over the last three months. 2.67% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PENN Entertainment

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PENN. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in PENN Entertainment by 4.7% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 58,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 2,584 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of PENN Entertainment by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 280,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,568,000 after buying an additional 10,800 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PENN Entertainment by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 19,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in PENN Entertainment by 37.9% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 60,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $985,000 after acquiring an additional 16,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC increased its stake in PENN Entertainment by 102.5% during the first quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 86,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 43,920 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.69% of the company’s stock.

About PENN Entertainment

PENN Entertainment, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated entertainment, sports content, and casino gaming experiences. The company operates through five segments: Northeast, South, West, Midwest, and Interactive. It operates online sports betting in various jurisdictions; and iCasino under Hollywood Casino, L'Auberge, ESPN BET, and theScore Bet Sportsbook and Casino brands.