Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $80.00 to $90.00. The stock had previously closed at $74.67, but opened at $76.18. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Roku shares last traded at $76.63, with a volume of 406,834 shares traded.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Roku from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Roku in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Roku in a report on Friday, September 13th. Wolfe Research raised Roku from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $93.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Roku from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Roku has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.75.

Insider Transactions at Roku

In related news, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $1,875,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 5,020 shares in the company, valued at $376,500. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Roku news, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,875,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 5,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $376,500. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Dan Jedda sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.33, for a total value of $75,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 54,267 shares in the company, valued at $4,087,933.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,945 shares of company stock worth $3,465,135 in the last three months. Company insiders own 13.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Roku

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ROKU. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Roku by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 7,349,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,939,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457,925 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its position in shares of Roku by 25.8% in the 1st quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 7,091,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $462,108,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455,408 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Roku during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $90,386,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Roku during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,856,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Roku by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,853,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,086,533,000 after buying an additional 380,409 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.30% of the company’s stock.

Roku Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $11.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.41 and a beta of 2.06. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $63.03 and its 200-day moving average is $61.07.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.45) by $0.21. The business had revenue of $968.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $937.78 million. Roku had a negative return on equity of 21.03% and a negative net margin of 13.16%. The business’s revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.76) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Roku, Inc. will post -1.45 EPS for the current year.

Roku Company Profile

Roku, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates a TV streaming platform in the United states and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Platform and Devices. Its streaming platform allows users to find and access TV shows, movies, news, sports, and others. The Platform segment offers digital advertising, including direct and programmatic video advertising, media and entertainment promotional spending, and related services; and streaming services distribution, such as subscription and transaction revenue shares, and sale of premium subscriptions and branded app buttons on remote controls.