Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Earns Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $100.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target indicates a potential upside of 52.21% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also commented on ROKU. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Roku from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Guggenheim upgraded Roku from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Roku from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Macquarie increased their target price on Roku from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Roku from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Roku has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.95.

Roku Price Performance

NASDAQ ROKU opened at $65.70 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -54.75 and a beta of 2.08. Roku has a 12 month low of $48.33 and a 12 month high of $108.84. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $73.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.66.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.35) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Roku had a negative return on equity of 7.30% and a negative net margin of 4.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($2.33) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Roku will post -1.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Roku

In other news, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,875,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 5,020 shares in the company, valued at $376,500. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Dan Jedda sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.25, for a total value of $76,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,267 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,061,608.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 25,000 shares of Roku stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,875,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 5,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $376,500. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 69,566 shares of company stock valued at $5,254,000. Insiders own 13.98% 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 ROKU. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its position in shares of Roku by 25.8% during the first quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 7,091,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $462,108,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455,408 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Roku by 138.1% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 342,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,314,000 after purchasing an additional 198,600 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Roku by 645.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 221,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,278,000 after buying an additional 191,831 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Roku by 1.3% in the second quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 12,716,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $762,096,000 after acquiring an additional 159,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Andra AP fonden grew its holdings in Roku by 116.6% during the 2nd quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 293,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,613,000 after acquiring an additional 158,200 shares during the period. 86.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.