Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ:MLCO) Stock Rated "Moderate Buy" by Wall Street Brokerages

Key Points

• Melco Resorts & Entertainment has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating from 10 analysts, with five buys, one strong buy, two holds and two sells. The average 12-month price target is $7.27.
• MLCO shares opened at $4.24, near their 52-week low of $4.06 and below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages. The company has a market capitalization of approximately $1.61 billion.
• Melco matched quarterly earnings expectations at $0.06 per share, while revenue of $1.25 billion fell 5.7% year over year and slightly missed estimates. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.62% of the stock.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ:MLCO - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the ten research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $7.27.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MLCO shares. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from an "overweight" rating to a "negative" rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Susquehanna set a $7.00 target price on Melco Resorts & Entertainment in a report on Friday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered Melco Resorts & Entertainment from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, June 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Melco Resorts & Entertainment from $6.00 to $5.70 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, CLSA upgraded Melco Resorts & Entertainment from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $6.10 to $6.00 in a report on Friday, July 10th.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Stock Performance

Shares of MLCO opened at $4.24 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.39. Melco Resorts & Entertainment has a 52-week low of $4.06 and a 52-week high of $9.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of 7.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.49.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ:MLCO - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 net margin of 4.50% and a negative return on equity of 23.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.04 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Melco Resorts & Entertainment will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Melco Resorts & Entertainment

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MLCO. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 35.2% in the first quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 11,269,346 shares of the company's stock worth $64,010,000 after purchasing an additional 2,934,127 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,461,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,342,000 after buying an additional 325,900 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 177.1% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,399,529 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,594,000 after buying an additional 894,513 shares during the last quarter. Clough Capital Partners L P lifted its position in Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Clough Capital Partners L P now owns 1,120,920 shares of the company's stock worth $8,485,000 after buying an additional 167,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 177.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 890,787 shares of the company's stock worth $5,060,000 after buying an additional 570,060 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.62% of the company's stock.

About Melco Resorts & Entertainment

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited NASDAQ: MLCO is a developer, owner and operator of integrated resort properties that combine casino gaming with hotels, dining, retail, entertainment and convention facilities. The company serves leisure and business travelers through destination resorts in Asia and Europe.

In Macau, Melco operates City of Dreams, Studio City and Altira Macau, as well as the Mocha Clubs electronic gaming business. Its properties offer a range of gaming options, hotel accommodations, restaurants, shopping venues, live entertainment and other non-gaming amenities.

Melco also operates City of Dreams Mediterranean in Cyprus and related satellite casinos under the Cyprus Casinos brand.

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