Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 59,170 Shares of Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR) by 4.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,454,520 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 59,170 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Caesars Entertainment were worth $60,712,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Caesars Entertainment by 525.3% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in Caesars Entertainment by 3,203.8% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 833 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. bought a new position in Caesars Entertainment in the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Caesars Entertainment during the 3rd quarter worth $68,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Caesars Entertainment by 25.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the period. 91.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CZR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Caesars Entertainment from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Caesars Entertainment from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Macquarie reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Caesars Entertainment in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Caesars Entertainment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.71.

Caesars Entertainment Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of CZR opened at $32.82 on Friday. Caesars Entertainment, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.74 and a 12 month high of $48.57. The stock has a market cap of $6.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.65 and a beta of 2.89. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.84.

Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.25). Caesars Entertainment had a negative net margin of 3.20% and a negative return on equity of 4.44%. The company had revenue of $2.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. Caesars Entertainment’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Caesars Entertainment, Inc. will post -0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Caesars Entertainment

Caesars Entertainment, Inc operates as a gaming and hospitality company. The company owns, leases, or manages domestic properties in 18 states with slot machines, video lottery terminals and e-tables, and hotel rooms, as well as table games, including poker. It also operates and conducts retail and online sports wagering across 31 jurisdictions in North America and operates iGaming in five jurisdictions in North America; sports betting from our retail and online sportsbooks; and other games, such as keno.