Investors Buy Large Volume of Roku Call Options (NASDAQ:ROKU)

Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 85,814 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 71% compared to the average daily volume of 50,053 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $89.00 price objective on shares of Roku in a report on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Roku in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. They set an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Roku from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Roku from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Roku in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Roku

In other news, Director Mai Fyfield sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.88, for a total value of $37,622.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,259 shares in the company, valued at $188,630.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Mai Fyfield sold 650 shares of Roku stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.88, for a total transaction of $37,622.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,259 shares in the company, valued at $188,630.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stephen H. Kay sold 3,322 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.09, for a total value of $189,652.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 82,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,683,435.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 23,898 shares of company stock valued at $1,347,966. Company insiders own 13.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ROKU. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Roku by 24.7% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 7,349,067 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,939,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457,925 shares during the last quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. increased its position in shares of Roku by 25.8% during the 1st quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 7,091,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $462,108,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455,408 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Roku during the 4th quarter valued at $90,386,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Roku by 34.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,543,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,516,000 after buying an additional 653,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Roku during the fourth quarter valued at $35,856,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.30% of the company’s stock.

Roku Trading Up 4.6 %

NASDAQ ROKU traded up $2.50 on Wednesday, reaching $57.14. 3,468,399 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,981,814. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.24 billion, a PE ratio of -13.95 and a beta of 1.92. Roku has a one year low of $51.51 and a one year high of $108.84.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported ($0.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.64) by $0.29. Roku had a negative net margin of 15.64% and a negative return on equity of 23.81%. The business had revenue of $881.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $843.54 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.38) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Roku will post -1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.