Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU)

Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors acquired 52,887 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 64% compared to the average volume of 32,308 call options.

Roku Stock Down 1.8 %

Roku stock opened at $75.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $73.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.60. The company has a market capitalization of $10.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -63.07 and a beta of 2.06. Roku has a 52 week low of $48.33 and a 52 week high of $108.84.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.35) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Roku had a negative net margin of 4.42% and a negative return on equity of 7.22%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.33) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Roku will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ROKU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on Roku from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Roku from $61.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Roku from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Roku from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on Roku in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Dan Jedda sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.33, for a total value of $75,330.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 54,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,087,933.11. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Matthew C. Banks sold 8,693 shares of Roku stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.44, for a total transaction of $621,027.92. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $518,940.16. This represents a 54.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 88,550 shares of company stock valued at $6,621,873 over the last ninety days. 13.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Roku

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ROKU. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Roku in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,180,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Roku by 238.6% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 73,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,407,000 after buying an additional 51,815 shares in the last quarter. Kessler Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Roku by 21.8% in the third quarter. Kessler Investment Group LLC now owns 75,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,672,000 after acquiring an additional 13,590 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Roku during the 3rd quarter worth about $129,015,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Roku by 240.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 41,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,724,000 after purchasing an additional 29,521 shares in the last quarter. 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.