Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on PENN Entertainment (NASDAQ:PENN)

PENN Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PENN) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 39,391 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 137% compared to the typical daily volume of 16,588 call options.

Institutional Trading of PENN Entertainment

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PENN. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in PENN Entertainment by 4,624.5% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,456,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,425,274 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in PENN Entertainment by 1,051.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,421,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,809,000 after purchasing an additional 1,297,976 shares in the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC increased its position in PENN Entertainment by 91.9% during the 2nd quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 2,643,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,023 shares in the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in PENN Entertainment during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,613,000. Finally, DME Capital Management LP increased its position in PENN Entertainment by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter. DME Capital Management LP now owns 5,095,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,620,000 after purchasing an additional 540,630 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PENN shares. Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of PENN Entertainment from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of PENN Entertainment from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of PENN Entertainment in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of PENN Entertainment from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Craig Hallum reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of PENN Entertainment in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.44.

PENN Entertainment Trading Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ PENN opened at $20.46 on Friday. PENN Entertainment has a 12 month low of $13.50 and a 12 month high of $24.57. The company has a 50-day moving average of $19.95 and a 200-day moving average of $19.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 2.08.

PENN Entertainment (NASDAQ:PENN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.28) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. PENN Entertainment had a negative net margin of 8.51% and a negative return on equity of 14.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that PENN Entertainment will post -1.54 earnings per share for the current year.

About PENN Entertainment

PENN Entertainment, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated entertainment, sports content, and casino gaming experiences. The company operates through five segments: Northeast, South, West, Midwest, and Interactive. It operates online sports betting in various jurisdictions; and iCasino under Hollywood Casino, L'Auberge, ESPN BET, and theScore Bet Sportsbook and Casino brands.