Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ:MLCO) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Sell-Side Analysts

Shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ:MLCO) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $7.27.

MLCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. CLSA raised shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $6.10 to $6.00 in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from $6.00 to $5.70 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Susquehanna set a $7.00 price objective on shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Melco Resorts & Entertainment in a report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $9.40 price objective on the stock.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Price Performance

Shares of MLCO stock opened at $4.24 on Wednesday. Melco Resorts & Entertainment has a one year low of $4.06 and a one year high of $9.53. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of 7.07, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.49.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ:MLCO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06. Melco Resorts & Entertainment had a net margin of 4.50% and a negative return on equity of 23.81%. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.04 earnings per share. Melco Resorts & Entertainment’s quarterly revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Melco Resorts & Entertainment will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MLCO. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. lifted its stake in Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 35.2% during the first quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 11,269,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,010,000 after purchasing an additional 2,934,127 shares during the last quarter. Capula Management Ltd purchased a new position in Melco Resorts & Entertainment during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,326,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 177.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 890,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,060,000 after acquiring an additional 570,060 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 7.9% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,461,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,342,000 after buying an additional 325,900 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 190.9% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 461,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,619,000 after acquiring an additional 302,609 shares in the last quarter. 39.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Melco Resorts & Entertainment

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ: MLCO) is a developer, owner and operator of integrated resort properties that combine casino gaming with hotels, dining, retail, entertainment and convention facilities. The company serves leisure and business travelers through destination resorts in Asia and Europe.

In Macau, Melco operates City of Dreams, Studio City and Altira Macau, as well as the Mocha Clubs electronic gaming business. Its properties offer a range of gaming options, hotel accommodations, restaurants, shopping venues, live entertainment and other non-gaming amenities.

Melco also operates City of Dreams Mediterranean in Cyprus and related satellite casinos under the Cyprus Casinos brand.