Caesars Entertainment Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:CZR)

Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 17,696 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 31% compared to the average volume of 13,505 call options.

Caesars Entertainment Trading Up 3.7 %

CZR opened at $38.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.99 and a beta of 2.89. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.29. Caesars Entertainment has a 1-year low of $31.74 and a 1-year high of $60.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.55) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by ($0.52). Caesars Entertainment had a return on equity of 1.27% and a net margin of 6.68%. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. Analysts expect that Caesars Entertainment will post 0.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Michael E. Pegram bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $31.96 per share, for a total transaction of $319,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 191,697 shares in the company, valued at $6,126,636.12. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Michael E. Pegram purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $31.96 per share, for a total transaction of $319,600.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 191,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,126,636.12. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael E. Pegram acquired 40,000 shares of Caesars Entertainment stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $36.39 per share, with a total value of $1,455,600.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 181,697 shares in the company, valued at $6,611,953.83. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Caesars Entertainment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CZR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Caesars Entertainment by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,635,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,033,829,000 after buying an additional 75,898 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Caesars Entertainment by 26.9% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,505,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,190,000 after purchasing an additional 3,289,748 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Caesars Entertainment by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,024,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,826,000 after purchasing an additional 916,282 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Caesars Entertainment by 2.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 9,616,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $420,633,000 after purchasing an additional 233,250 shares during the period. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Caesars Entertainment by 35.4% in the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 5,799,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,515,763 shares during the period. 91.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CZR. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Caesars Entertainment from $53.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. JMP Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $67.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.07.

Caesars Entertainment Company Profile

Caesars Entertainment, Inc operates as a gaming and hospitality company. The company owns, leases, or manages domestic properties in 18 states with slot machines, video lottery terminals and e-tables, and hotel rooms, as well as table games, including poker. It also operates and conducts retail and online sports wagering across 31 jurisdictions in North America and operates iGaming in five jurisdictions in North America; sports betting from our retail and online sportsbooks; and other games, such as keno.