Franklin Resources Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Roblox Co. (NYSE:RBLX)

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its holdings in Roblox Co. (NYSE:RBLX) by 19.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,700,805 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,613,137 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Roblox were worth $273,326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. ValueAct Holdings L.P. grew its stake in shares of Roblox by 340.7% in the 3rd quarter. ValueAct Holdings L.P. now owns 10,135,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $448,616,000 after buying an additional 7,835,921 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Roblox by 24.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,942,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $926,924,000 after acquiring an additional 4,115,286 shares in the last quarter. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Roblox by 26.9% during the second quarter. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC now owns 11,745,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $437,039,000 after acquiring an additional 2,488,044 shares during the last quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Roblox during the third quarter valued at approximately $107,491,000. Finally, Greenvale Capital LLP bought a new stake in shares of Roblox in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $89,304,000. 94.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on RBLX. Needham & Company LLC boosted 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. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of Roblox in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Roblox from $54.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Roblox from $44.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Roblox from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.67.

Insider Activity at Roblox

In related news, insider Manuel Bronstein sold 44,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $2,693,728.88. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 573,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,401,692.66. This represents a 7.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David Baszucki sold 333,334 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.31, for a total value of $19,103,371.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,409,896.45. This represents a 72.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,457,267 shares of company stock valued at $74,422,648 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 22.15% of the company’s stock.

Roblox Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:RBLX opened at $59.60 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.64. The company has a market capitalization of $36.21 billion, a PE ratio of -36.34 and a beta of 1.50. Roblox Co. has a 12-month low of $29.55 and a 12-month high of $61.05. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.23.

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

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.