Investors Buy Large Volume of Roku Call Options (NASDAQ:ROKU)

Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 52,887 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 64% compared to the average daily volume of 32,308 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Dan Jedda sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.33, for a total transaction of $75,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 54,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,087,933.11. This trade represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Charles Collier sold 15,454 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $1,159,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,000. The trade was a 98.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 88,550 shares of company stock worth $6,621,873. Company insiders own 13.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Roku

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Roku during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,180,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Roku by 238.6% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 73,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,407,000 after buying an additional 51,815 shares during the last quarter. Kessler Investment Group LLC increased its position in Roku by 21.8% in the third quarter. Kessler Investment Group LLC now owns 75,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,672,000 after buying an additional 13,590 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in Roku in the third quarter valued at $129,015,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Roku by 240.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 41,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,724,000 after acquiring an additional 29,521 shares during the period. 86.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Roku Stock Performance

Shares of ROKU stock opened at $75.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -63.07 and a beta of 2.06. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $73.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.60. Roku has a one year low of $48.33 and a one year high of $108.84.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.35) by $0.29. Roku had a negative net margin of 4.42% and a negative return on equity of 7.22%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($2.33) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Roku will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ROKU shares. Robert W. Baird raised Roku from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Roku in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Roku from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Roku from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Roku from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.62.

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.