Traders Purchase Large Volume of Melco Resorts & Entertainment Put Options (NASDAQ:MLCO)

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ:MLCO) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 7,366 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 126% compared to the average daily volume of 3,257 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MLCO has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Melco Resorts & Entertainment from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $10.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Melco Resorts & Entertainment from $8.50 to $7.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.82.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 243.4% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,324 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 5,191 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. acquired a new stake in Melco Resorts & Entertainment in the first quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment during the second quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Pitcairn Co. bought a new position in shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment in the 1st quarter valued at $80,000. 39.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Price Performance

Melco Resorts & Entertainment stock traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $7.89. 239,720 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,392,421. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.77. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a PE ratio of -19.19, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.03. Melco Resorts & Entertainment has a 12 month low of $4.78 and a 12 month high of $9.56.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ:MLCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.05). Melco Resorts & Entertainment had a negative net margin of 3.11% and a negative return on equity of 11.59%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.02) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Melco Resorts & Entertainment will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Company Profile

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited, through its subsidiaries, develops, owns, and operates casino gaming and entertainment casino resort facilities in Asia. It owns and operates City of Dreams, an integrated casino resort that has 500 gaming tables and 800 gaming machines; approximately 1,400 hotel rooms and suites; a wet stage performance theater with approximately 2,000 seats; approximately 30 restaurants and bars, and 150 retail outlets; and recreation and leisure facilities, including health and fitness clubs, swimming pools, spa and salons, and banquet and meeting facilities.