UBS Group Upgrades Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) to Strong-Buy

UBS Group upgraded shares of Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

ROKU has been the topic of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Roku from $92.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Roku in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Roku to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America assumed coverage on Roku in a report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $100.00 target price for the company. Finally, Pivotal Research upgraded shares of Roku from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.55.

Roku Price Performance

NASDAQ:ROKU opened at $72.49 on Thursday. Roku has a one year low of $48.33 and a one year high of $104.96. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.59. The company has a market cap of $10.58 billion, a PE ratio of -81.45 and a beta of 2.12.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.20. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Roku had a negative return on equity of 5.34% and a negative net margin of 3.15%. Equities research analysts expect that Roku will post -0.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Roku

In related news, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.77, for a total transaction of $1,994,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 26,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,116,936.26. This represents a 48.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Dan Jedda sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $75,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 68,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,163,225. This represents a 1.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 97,908 shares of company stock valued at $8,633,436 in the last 90 days. 13.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Roku

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ROKU. Entropy Technologies LP boosted its stake in shares of Roku by 264.4% during the fourth quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 25,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,898,000 after purchasing an additional 18,520 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Roku in the third quarter worth $129,015,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Roku by 11,626.3% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 150,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,259,000 after purchasing an additional 149,514 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Roku by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 990,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,661,000 after buying an additional 34,898 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Roku by 146.4% in the fourth quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 10,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $756,000 after buying an additional 6,042 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.30% of the company’s stock.

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.