DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ:DKNG) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ:DKNG) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 25,800,000 shares, a growth of 10.0% from the August 31st total of 23,450,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 9,110,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul Liberman sold 63,206 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.00, for a total transaction of $2,465,034.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,716,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,939,834. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other DraftKings news, insider Paul Liberman sold 63,206 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.00, for a total transaction of $2,465,034.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,716,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,939,834. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jason Robins sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total transaction of $7,050,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,678,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,402,390.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,195,301 shares of company stock valued at $45,355,362. 51.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of DraftKings in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of DraftKings in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. LifeSteps Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of DraftKings during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in DraftKings by 140.2% in the first quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 776 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the period. Finally, Alta Advisers Ltd bought a new stake in DraftKings during the second quarter valued at $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 37.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on DKNG. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of DraftKings in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Benchmark lifted their price target on DraftKings from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. BNP Paribas upgraded DraftKings from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on DraftKings from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of DraftKings from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.74.

DraftKings Price Performance

NASDAQ DKNG traded down $1.37 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $37.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,627,653 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,601,412. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. DraftKings has a fifty-two week low of $25.73 and a fifty-two week high of $49.57. The company’s 50-day moving average is $35.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.34. The stock has a market cap of $32.88 billion, a PE ratio of -33.22 and a beta of 1.80.

DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.13. DraftKings had a negative net margin of 9.45% and a negative return on equity of 43.11%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.17) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that DraftKings will post -0.31 EPS for the current year.

DraftKings Company Profile

DraftKings Inc operates as a digital sports entertainment and gaming company in the United States and internationally. It provides online sports betting and casino, daily fantasy sports, media, and other consumer products, as well as retails sportsbooks. The company also engages in the design and development of sports betting and casino gaming software for online and retail sportsbooks, and iGaming operators.