Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU) gapped down before the market opened on Friday after Wedbush lowered their price target on the stock from $80.00 to $75.00. The stock had previously closed at $62.81, but opened at $60.73. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Roku shares last traded at $57.06, with a volume of 5,335,044 shares trading hands.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Roku in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Roku from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Oppenheimer lowered Roku from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Benchmark reduced their price objective on Roku from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Roku from $110.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Stephen H. Kay sold 4,310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.20, for a total value of $272,392.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 81,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,148,208.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Charles Collier sold 12,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.06, for a total value of $798,741.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $279,237.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Stephen H. Kay sold 4,310 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.20, for a total transaction of $272,392.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 81,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,148,208.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,545 shares of company stock worth $4,364,035 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Roku

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Roku by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,853,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,086,533,000 after acquiring an additional 380,409 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Roku by 85.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,441,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $666,465,000 after purchasing an additional 4,363,754 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Roku by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 7,349,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,939,000 after buying an additional 1,457,925 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Roku by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,543,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,516,000 after buying an additional 653,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Roku in the 4th quarter valued at $90,386,000. 86.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Roku Stock Down 10.3 %

The company has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.23 and a beta of 1.66. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $62.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.48.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported ($0.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.64) by $0.29. The company had revenue of $881.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $843.54 million. Roku had a negative net margin of 20.36% and a negative return on equity of 29.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.38) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Roku, Inc. will post -2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Roku

Roku, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates a TV streaming platform in the United states and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Platform and Devices. Its streaming platform allows users to find and access TV shows, movies, news, sports, and others. The Platform segment offers digital advertising, including direct and programmatic video advertising, media and entertainment promotional spending, and related services; and streaming services distribution, such as subscription and transaction revenue shares, and sale of premium subscriptions and branded app buttons on remote controls.