Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Earns “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $120.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target suggests a potential upside of 53.28% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on ROKU. Compass Point started coverage on Roku in a research report on Sunday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised Roku from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $74.00 to $129.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $86.00 price target on shares of Roku in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on Roku from $73.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised Roku from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Sunday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.67.

Roku Price Performance

Shares of ROKU opened at $78.29 on Monday. Roku has a 12-month low of $48.33 and a 12-month high of $104.96. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $80.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.43 billion, a PE ratio of -87.97 and a beta of 2.12.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.20. Roku had a negative return on equity of 5.34% and a negative net margin of 3.15%. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Roku will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Roku

In related news, CAO Matthew C. Banks sold 1,906 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.36, for a total value of $153,166.16. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $583,092.16. This trade represents a 20.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.77, for a total value of $1,994,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,538 shares in the company, valued at $2,116,936.26. The trade was a 48.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 97,908 shares of company stock valued at $8,633,436. Corporate insiders own 13.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in Roku by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,183,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,426,134,000 after buying an additional 4,613,570 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Roku by 663.9% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,335,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $173,644,000 after buying an additional 2,030,036 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Roku during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $129,015,000. Cadian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Roku during the 4th quarter worth approximately $87,632,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Roku by 505.3% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,296,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,402,000 after purchasing an additional 1,082,548 shares in the last quarter. 86.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.