Traders Buy Large Volume of Caesars Entertainment Call Options (NASDAQ:CZR)

Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 20,595 call options on the company. This is an increase of 20% compared to the typical volume of 17,222 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Caesars Entertainment from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Susquehanna reissued a “negative” rating and issued a $33.00 price target on shares of Caesars Entertainment in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Caesars Entertainment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.14.

Caesars Entertainment Price Performance

NASDAQ CZR traded up $2.74 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $43.54. 3,076,615 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,213,292. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.56, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.84. Caesars Entertainment has a 1 year low of $31.74 and a 1 year high of $50.51. The company has a market cap of $9.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31 and a beta of 2.96.

Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.68). The business had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. Caesars Entertainment had a negative net margin of 2.44% and a negative return on equity of 2.57%. Caesars Entertainment’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Caesars Entertainment will post -0.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CZR. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Caesars Entertainment by 26.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,505,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $678,190,000 after acquiring an additional 3,289,748 shares during the last quarter. Nut Tree Capital Management LP increased its stake in Caesars Entertainment by 340.0% in the 1st quarter. Nut Tree Capital Management LP now owns 2,200,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,228,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,000 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in Caesars Entertainment by 35.4% in the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 5,799,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,515,763 shares during the last quarter. Helikon Investments Ltd bought a new position in shares of Caesars Entertainment in the second quarter worth approximately $37,763,000. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Caesars Entertainment by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,024,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,826,000 after buying an additional 916,282 shares during the period. 91.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Caesars Entertainment Company Profile

Caesars Entertainment, Inc operates as a gaming and hospitality company. The company owns, leases, or manages domestic properties in 18 states with slot machines, video lottery terminals and e-tables, and hotel rooms, as well as table games, including poker. It also operates and conducts retail and online sports wagering across 31 jurisdictions in North America and operates iGaming in five jurisdictions in North America; sports betting from our retail and online sportsbooks; and other games, such as keno.