Unity Software (NYSE:U) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after BTIG Research raised their price target on the stock from $39.00 to $43.00. The stock had previously closed at $27.28, but opened at $29.86. BTIG Research currently has a buy rating on the stock. Unity Software shares last traded at $28.3140, with a volume of 11,513,481 shares changing hands.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on U. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Unity Software in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Unity Software in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Unity Software from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Freedom Capital raised Unity Software to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Unity Software in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mark Barrysmith sold 10,578 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.07, for a total value of $191,144.46. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 383,901 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,937,091.07. This represents a 2.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jarrod Yahes sold 6,205 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.03, for a total value of $130,491.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 728,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,317,852.43. The trade was a 0.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 41,684 shares of company stock valued at $773,350 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Unity Software

Here are the key news stories impacting Unity Software this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 revenue beat and adjusted earnings improvement — Unity reported roughly $508M in Q1 revenue, up ~17% YoY and slightly above Street forecasts, with adjusted profitability showing sharp improvement. Proactive: Q1 revenue beat
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades — BTIG raised its price target to $43 with a Buy rating (large upside vs current levels), and UBS also lifted its target to $28, supplying fresh analyst support. Benzinga: BTIG raise American Banking News: UBS raise
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually large options activity — Traders bought ~57,980 calls today (above average call volume), suggesting some investors are positioning for upside. (No article link)
• Neutral Sentiment: Q2 revenue guide roughly in line — Unity gave revenue guidance of about $505M–$515M for Q2, which is close to consensus (~$507M), so guidance is not a clear beat or miss. Yahoo: Q1 results & guidance
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings-call transcript available — Management commentary on the ironSource wind?down, cost actions and monetization road map will be important for near?term sentiment. Seeking Alpha: Earnings call transcript
• Negative Sentiment: $279M impairment tied to ironSource and Supersonic — Unity is taking a significant one?time charge as it winds down the ironSource ad network and exits parts of its games-publishing business, which directly reduces reported earnings and raises near?term cash/earnings uncertainty. Proactive: impairment details
• Negative Sentiment: Small EPS miss on GAAP/consensus metrics — Reported EPS came in around $0.23 vs. some consensus figures near $0.24 (Zacks flagged a slight miss), which, together with the impairment, pressured sentiment. Zacks: EPS lag

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of U. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Unity Software by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 813,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,930,000 after acquiring an additional 45,481 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in shares of Unity Software in the 1st quarter valued at $260,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Unity Software by 28.9% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 1,241 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Unity Software by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 520,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,603,000 after acquiring an additional 53,015 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Unity Software by 1,135.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 224,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,438,000 after acquiring an additional 206,529 shares during the period. 73.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Unity Software Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $21.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a PE ratio of -27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Unity Software (NYSE:U) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.04. Unity Software had a negative return on equity of 4.76% and a negative net margin of 21.77%.The firm had revenue of $503.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.30) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Unity Software Inc. will post 0.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unity Software Company Profile

Unity Software is a leading provider of a real-time 3D development platform that enables creators across industries to design, build and operate interactive, real-time experiences. Originally focused on the game development market, Unity’s technology now extends into sectors such as film, automotive, architecture, engineering and construction, delivering immersive content for mobile, desktop, console, augmented reality and virtual reality devices. The company’s core offering comprises a suite of authoring tools, runtime engines and cloud services that streamline the creation and deployment of interactive 3D applications.

The Unity Editor serves as the central hub where developers design scenes, script behavior and iterate on assets.