Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Unity Software (NYSE:U) Stock

Unity Software (NYSE:U) had its target price increased by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $26.00 to $32.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 12.96% from the company’s previous close.

U has been the subject of several other research reports. HSBC raised shares of Unity Software from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday. Benchmark upgraded shares of Unity Software from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Unity Software in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Unity Software in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of Unity Software from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.96.

Unity Software Price Performance

Unity Software stock traded up $0.33 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $28.33. 29,187,512 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,400,793. The company’s fifty day moving average is $22.45 and its 200-day moving average is $20.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 2.41. The firm has a market cap of $11.41 billion, a PE ratio of -13.89 and a beta of 2.32. Unity Software has a 52 week low of $13.90 and a 52 week high of $33.43.

Unity Software (NYSE:U) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.30) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.35) by $0.05. Unity Software had a negative net margin of 40.47% and a negative return on equity of 11.30%. The company had revenue of $457.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.47 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Unity Software will post -1.72 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Helgason sold 7,860 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.45, for a total value of $207,897.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $277,539.85. This represents a 42.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mark Barrysmith sold 1,395 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.68, for a total value of $30,243.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 450,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,775,100.08. The trade was a 0.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 679,264 shares of company stock worth $16,612,383 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Unity Software in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Unity Software in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Unity Software by 50.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Unity Software in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Unity Software in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.46% of the company’s stock.

About Unity Software

Unity Software Inc operates a real-time 3D development platform. Its platform provides software solutions to create, run, and monetize interactive, real-time 2D and 3D content for mobile phones, tablets, PCs, consoles, and augmented and virtual reality devices. The company offers its solutions directly through its online store and field sales operations in North America, Denmark, Finland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China, Singapore, and South Korea, as well as indirectly through independent distributors and resellers worldwide.