Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Cut to “Hold” at Robert W. Baird

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) was downgraded by stock analysts at Robert W. Baird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

ROKU has been the topic of several other research reports. Benchmark raised their price target on shares of Roku from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Fox Advisors set a $160.00 price objective on Roku in a report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research downgraded Roku from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. KeyCorp lowered Roku from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Roku from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Roku has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.96.

Roku Stock Performance

Roku stock opened at $140.90 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $119.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.94 and a beta of 2.06. Roku has a one year low of $77.64 and a one year high of $148.88.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Roku had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 7.64%. Roku’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.19) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Roku will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Roku

In other Roku news, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.79, for a total transaction of $9,659,250.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Charles Collier sold 205,821 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $21,611,205.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,168,755. The trade was a 94.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 706,194 shares of company stock worth $80,756,499 over the last quarter. 13.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Roku

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ROKU. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Roku in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,345,000. Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Roku by 352.3% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,650,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285,585 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Roku during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,997,000. MH & Associates Securities Management Corp ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Roku during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,398,000. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Roku during the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,466,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.30% of the company’s stock.

More Roku News

Here are the key news stories impacting Roku this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fox’s $22 billion acquisition of Roku gives shareholders a clear takeover premium and sent the stock sharply higher as traders priced in deal value. Reuters: Fox to buy Roku in $22 billion deal
• Positive Sentiment: The transaction could strengthen Roku’s strategic position by pairing its streaming platform with Fox’s content and advertising ecosystem, supporting the bull case for a larger connected-TV leader. CNBC: Fox to buy streaming device maker Roku for $22 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Heavy options activity and earlier sale-talk reports suggest traders were positioning for a deal before the formal announcement, adding momentum to the stock. Stocktwits: Roku lands $22B buyout offer from Fox
• Neutral Sentiment: Trading in ROKU was briefly halted for “news pending,” reflecting the market’s anticipation of a major announcement rather than a change in fundamentals. Reuters: Fox to buy Roku in $22 billion deal
• Negative Sentiment: Some investor-rights firms have opened investigations into whether the deal gives Roku shareholders a fair price, which could create uncertainty or delay-related headlines. PRNewswire: Shareholder Alert on Roku fair price investigation

About Roku

Roku, Inc (NASDAQ: ROKU) is a technology company that develops and operates a proprietary streaming platform designed to deliver entertainment content to consumers via internet-connected devices and smart televisions. Since its inception in 2002 in California, Roku has focused on simplifying access to streaming services for viewers worldwide. The company’s platform enables users to discover, access and manage a wide array of over-the-top content from major streaming services, free ad-supported channels and niche providers.

At the core of Roku’s product lineup are a range of streaming players and sticks, which connect to televisions via HDMI and deliver the Roku OS experience.