Wedbush Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU)

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by analysts at Wedbush in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $155.00 price target on the stock. Wedbush’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 0.87% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on ROKU. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Roku from $120.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Citizens Jmp lowered Roku from a “market outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Evercore cut Roku from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Roku from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $165.00 price target (down from $167.00) on shares of Roku in a research note on Friday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and nineteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Roku currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.17.

Roku Stock Performance

Shares of ROKU traded up $0.18 on Thursday, hitting $153.67. 350,573 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,425,782. The company has a market capitalization of $22.81 billion, a PE ratio of 65.63 and a beta of 2.05. Roku has a one year low of $78.53 and a one year high of $159.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $152.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $130.65.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.47. Roku had a return on equity of 13.73% and a net margin of 6.82%.The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.07 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 21.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Roku will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Roku

In other news, insider Mustafa Ozgen sold 3,410 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.64, for a total value of $530,732.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,979,559.16. This represents a 11.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Gilbert Fuchsberg sold 4,824 shares of Roku stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.64, for a total transaction of $750,807.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 40,168 shares in the company, valued at $6,251,747.52. This represents a 10.72% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 112,285 shares of company stock worth $16,939,414 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Roku

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Roku during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,345,000. Moran Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Roku in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,990,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Roku in the second quarter worth approximately $105,216,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Roku in the 2nd quarter worth $1,184,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in Roku by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 260,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,674,000 after buying an additional 33,593 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.30% of the company’s stock.

Roku Company Profile

Roku, Inc (NASDAQ: ROKU) operates a television streaming platform that connects consumers with digital entertainment. Its Roku operating system powers streaming players, Roku-branded televisions and smart-TV products made by licensing partners. The platform provides access to streaming services, live television, movies, music and other applications.

The company also operates The Roku Channel, its own ad-supported streaming service offering licensed and original content, including movies, television programs, live channels and premium subscription options.