Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ:MLCO) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts give Melco Resorts & Entertainment a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with five buy ratings, one strong buy, two holds and two sells. The average 12-month price target is $7.27, above the stock’s reported $5.05 price.
• Recent analyst actions were mixed: Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to “negative,” while CLSA upgraded it to “outperform”; Citigroup maintained a buy rating but lowered its price target to $9.40.
• Melco met quarterly EPS expectations at $0.06, but revenue of $1.25 billion fell short of estimates and declined 5.7% year over year. Institutional investors and hedge funds own approximately 39.6% of the company’s shares.

Shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ:MLCO - Get Free Report) have earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the ten analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $7.2667.

MLCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from an "overweight" rating to a "negative" rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. CLSA upgraded shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $6.10 to $6.00 in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from $10.50 to $9.40 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Susquehanna set a $7.00 price objective on Melco Resorts & Entertainment in a research report on Friday, August 14th.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MLCO opened at $5.05 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $5.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.42, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.58. Melco Resorts & Entertainment has a 1 year low of $4.93 and a 1 year high of $9.95.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ:MLCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.06. Melco Resorts & Entertainment had a negative return on equity of 23.81% and a net margin of 4.50%.The business had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.04 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Melco Resorts & Entertainment will post 0.42 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 1,370.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,045 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 4,702 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 71.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,570 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 3,155 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Melco Resorts & Entertainment in the 4th quarter worth $48,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Melco Resorts & Entertainment in the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, U S Global Investors Inc. purchased a new position in Melco Resorts & Entertainment in the 1st quarter valued at about $68,000. 39.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Melco Resorts & Entertainment

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited NASDAQ: MLCO is a developer, owner and operator of integrated resort destinations in Asia and Europe. The company's portfolio spans casino gaming, hotel accommodations, retail, dining and entertainment facilities. Melco's properties feature a mix of luxury hotels, award-winning restaurants, high-limit gaming salons and entertainment venues, catering to a broad range of leisure and business travelers.

In Macau, Melco owns and operates flagship properties including City of Dreams Macau, Altira Macau and Studio City.

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