Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Roblox Co. (NYSE:RBLX)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $61.30, but opened at $62.83. Roblox shares last traded at $63.02, with a volume of 1,841,592 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on RBLX shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Roblox from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $38.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 target price (up previously from $56.00) on shares of Roblox in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Roblox from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Roblox from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Roblox from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Roblox has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.67.

Roblox Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $37.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -37.65 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $55.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.64, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported ($0.37) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $919.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Roblox had a negative net margin of 30.90% and a negative return on equity of 986.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.45) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Roblox Co. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David Baszucki sold 166,668 shares of Roblox stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.15, for a total value of $7,025,056.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 135,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,722,073.25. This trade represents a 55.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark Reinstra sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.75, for a total value of $1,434,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 278,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,620,119.75. This represents a 7.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,254,601 shares of company stock worth $65,622,735. Company insiders own 22.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Roblox

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Roblox by 83.9% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Roblox in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Roblox by 20,800.0% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Roblox by 132.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 929 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in Roblox by 277.0% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares in the last quarter. 94.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Roblox

Roblox Corporation develops and operates an online entertainment platform in the United States and internationally. It offers Roblox Studio, a free toolset that allows developers and creators to build, publish, and operate 3D experiences, and other content; Roblox Client, an application that allows users to explore 3D experience; and Roblox Cloud, which provides services and infrastructure that power the platform.