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

Piper Sandler restated their neutral rating on shares of Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $65.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $81.00.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on ROKU. Pivotal Research cut their price objective on Roku from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a buy rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Roku in a research report on Friday. Citigroup cut their price objective on Roku from $110.00 to $75.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Oppenheimer lowered Roku from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their target price on Roku from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $86.05.

Roku Stock Performance

Roku stock opened at $56.35 on Friday. Roku has a 12 month low of $51.62 and a 12 month high of $108.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.57.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported ($0.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.64) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $881.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $843.54 million. Roku had a negative return on equity of 23.73% and a negative net margin of 15.64%. Roku’s revenue was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($1.38) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Roku will post -2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Roku

In related news, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.64, for a total transaction of $2,466,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 141,221 shares in the company, valued at $13,930,039.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.64, for a total transaction of $2,466,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 141,221 shares in the company, valued at $13,930,039.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jeffrey M. Blackburn bought 8,000 shares of Roku stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $63.96 per share, for a total transaction of $511,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $511,680. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,545 shares of company stock valued at $4,364,035 over the last quarter. Insiders own 13.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Roku

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROKU. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Roku by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 7,349,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,939,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457,925 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Roku in the 4th quarter worth about $90,386,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Roku in the 3rd quarter worth about $55,182,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Roku by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,543,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,516,000 after purchasing an additional 653,940 shares during the period. 86.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.