Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Shares Up 5.5% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU) rose 5.5% during trading on Monday after Arete upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. Arete now has a $132.00 price target on the stock. Roku traded as high as $116.06 and last traded at $114.68. Approximately 3,497,486 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 29% from the average daily volume of 2,721,503 shares. The stock had previously closed at $108.72.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Roku in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Roku from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $135.00 target price on Roku and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on Roku from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Roku in a report on Friday, October 31st. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.12.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Charles Collier sold 118,088 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.00, for a total transaction of $13,580,120.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 200 shares in the company, valued at $23,000. The trade was a 99.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.86, for a total value of $5,193,000.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 340,553 shares of company stock worth $36,388,689. Insiders own 13.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Roku

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Roku by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,998,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,301,557,000 after buying an additional 322,858 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Roku by 41.2% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,691,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,545,000 after acquiring an additional 785,864 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Roku by 275.5% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,586,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,897,000 after acquiring an additional 1,897,407 shares during the period. Tableaux LLC bought a new stake in Roku in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,746,000. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Roku by 352.3% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,650,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285,585 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.30% of the company’s stock.

Roku Trading Up 5.5%

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $103.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.32. The firm has a market cap of $16.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -573.37 and a beta of 1.95.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. Roku had a negative net margin of 0.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.08%. Roku’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.06) earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Roku, Inc. will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.