Norges Bank Acquires Shares of 5,373,613 Roblox Corporation $RBLX

Key Points

• Norges Bank disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in Roblox, buying 5.37 million shares valued at about $435.4 million, or 0.82% of the company.
• Roblox reported quarterly earnings of -$0.35 per share, beating estimates, while revenue rose 43.4% year over year to $1.44 billion. Despite the growth, the company still posted negative margins and a loss.
• The company also announced a $3 billion stock buyback authorization, while several analysts cut price targets and the stock remained under pressure, trading near its recent lows.

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Roblox Corporation (NYSE:RBLX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,373,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $435,424,000. Norges Bank owned 0.82% of Roblox at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. increased its position in shares of Roblox by 164.4% during the fourth quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 312 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new position in shares of Roblox during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new position in shares of Roblox during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Garner Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Roblox during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Roblox by 58.7% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 284 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.46% of the company's stock.

Roblox Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Roblox stock opened at $47.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $31.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.76 and a beta of 1.44. The company's 50 day moving average is $52.27 and its 200 day moving average is $68.85. Roblox Corporation has a twelve month low of $40.15 and a twelve month high of $150.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.45.

Roblox (NYSE:RBLX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.35) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.41) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.74 billion. Roblox had a negative net margin of 20.69% and a negative return on equity of 277.69%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 43.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.32) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Roblox Corporation will post -1.4 EPS for the current year.

Roblox declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 19th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 9.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Roblox

In other Roblox news, Director Gregory Baszucki sold 16,666 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.95, for a total value of $965,794.70. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,302,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,499,230.30. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Matthew D. Kaufman sold 14,356 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.27, for a total transaction of $649,896.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 349,964 shares in the company, valued at $15,842,870.28. The trade was a 3.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 183,471 shares of company stock valued at $8,930,068 over the last quarter. 10.05% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on RBLX. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Roblox from $140.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Roblox from $100.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Roblox from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Roblox from $47.50 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Roblox from a "hold" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $87.07.

Roblox Profile

Roblox Corporation operates Roblox, a user-generated online platform that enables people to create, share and monetize immersive 3D experiences and games. The core offering centers on Roblox Studio, a development environment that allows independent creators and studios to design interactive worlds using the company's building tools and scripting language. Content on the platform spans games, virtual hangouts, branded experiences and live events, all delivered through a persistent social environment.

Roblox's business model is built around its virtual economy and creator ecosystem.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding RBLX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Roblox Corporation (NYSE:RBLX - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.