Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI) Upgraded at StockNews.com

Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

Monarch Casino & Resort Price Performance

Shares of MCRI opened at $63.00 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $67.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.32. Monarch Casino & Resort has a fifty-two week low of $54.21 and a fifty-two week high of $85.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 13.73 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.58.

Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 19th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.18 by ($0.04). Monarch Casino & Resort had a return on equity of 18.01% and a net margin of 18.20%. The business had revenue of $123.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $123.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Monarch Casino & Resort will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monarch Casino & Resort

In other Monarch Casino & Resort news, President Bob Farahi sold 905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total transaction of $61,621.45. Following the transaction, the president now owns 997,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,933,052.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 35,104 shares of company stock worth $2,353,443. 24.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Monarch Casino & Resort

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MCRI. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in Monarch Casino & Resort during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. AXS Investments LLC purchased a new position in Monarch Casino & Resort during the fourth quarter valued at $67,000. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort by 214.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in Monarch Casino & Resort by 30.0% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Monarch Casino & Resort by 58.3% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 1,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,000 after buying an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.92% of the company’s stock.

About Monarch Casino & Resort

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, a hotel and casino in Reno, Nevada. It also owns and operates the Monarch Casino Resort Spa Black Hawk in Black Hawk, Colorado. The company was founded in 1972 and is based in Reno, Nevada.