Virtu Financial LLC Takes $1.29 Million Position in Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU)

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC has acquired 18,261 shares of Roku, Inc., valued at approximately $1.286 million, reflecting continued interest from institutional investors in Roku.
• Analysts are mostly optimistic about Roku, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $98.96 following various upgrades from brokerages.
• Insider trading activity included CEO Anthony J. Wood selling 25,000 shares and CFO Dan Jedda selling 3,000 shares, indicating a significant decrease in their positions in the company.

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 18,261 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,286,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ROKU. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Roku during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $6,026,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in Roku by 505.3% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,296,774 shares of the company's stock valued at $96,402,000 after purchasing an additional 1,082,548 shares in the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Roku during the first quarter worth about $511,000. J. Goldman & Co LP boosted its holdings in shares of Roku by 973.1% in the 4th quarter. J. Goldman & Co LP now owns 354,326 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,341,000 after acquiring an additional 321,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH acquired a new position in Roku in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,681,000. 86.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Roku Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ROKU traded up $2.33 on Tuesday, reaching $84.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,049,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,453,297. Roku, Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.43 and a 1-year high of $104.96. The firm has a market cap of $12.42 billion, a PE ratio of -200.76, a PEG ratio of 11.48 and a beta of 2.05. The business's 50-day moving average price is $85.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.22.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by $0.23. The business had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Roku had a negative return on equity of 2.44% and a negative net margin of 1.40%. Roku's revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.18) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Roku, Inc. will post -0.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Roku

In related news, insider Charles Collier sold 212,559 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $20,193,105.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 200 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,000. This represents a 99.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,241,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,071,466.92. This represents a 67.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 337,233 shares of company stock worth $30,423,181 in the last ninety days. 13.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Roku from $75.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Bank of America lifted their price target on Roku from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Roku from $65.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Roku from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Roku from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Roku currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.96.

Roku Company Profile

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.