ARK Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Playtika Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:PLTK)

ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Playtika Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:PLTK) by 25.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 219,275 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,175 shares during the quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC owned 0.06% of Playtika worth $1,912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PLTK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Playtika by 1,904.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 101,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,960,000 after purchasing an additional 96,334 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Playtika by 5.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 284,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 15,630 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Playtika during the first quarter worth $130,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Playtika by 624.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 204,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,950,000 after purchasing an additional 176,152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Playtika by 6.9% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 68,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,335,000 after purchasing an additional 4,415 shares during the last quarter. 11.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on PLTK. Bank of America downgraded Playtika from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $8.00 in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Playtika from $10.00 to $7.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Playtika from $14.75 to $11.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Playtika from $11.00 to $8.75 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Playtika from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $14.90 to $8.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Playtika presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.43.

Playtika Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of PLTK stock opened at $6.99 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $7.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.25. The stock has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.92, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.85. Playtika Holding Corp. has a twelve month low of $6.25 and a twelve month high of $12.90.

Playtika (NASDAQ:PLTK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $637.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $630.26 million. Playtika had a net margin of 9.15% and a negative return on equity of 81.85%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.24 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Playtika Holding Corp. will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

Playtika Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 21st. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.72%. Playtika’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.50%.

Playtika Profile

Playtika Holding Corp., together with its subsidiaries, develops mobile games in the United States, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia pacific, and internationally. The company owns a portfolio of casual and social casino-themed games. It distributes its games to the end customer through various web and mobile platforms and direct-to-consumer platforms.