Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ:MLCO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from nine brokerages, with analysts issuing a mix of buy, hold, and sell ratings.
• The company's stock price target varies, with an average of $8.15 among analysts, while the stock recently opened at $8.13.
• In its latest earnings report, Melco Resorts & Entertainment exceeded expectations, reporting $0.23 EPS against a consensus estimate of $0.09, with revenue increasing by 14.5% year-over-year.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ:MLCO - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Hold" from the nine ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $8.15.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MLCO. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. CLSA upgraded shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $7.20 to $9.50 in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Stock Up 2.3%

MLCO stock opened at $8.13 on Wednesday. Melco Resorts & Entertainment has a 12-month low of $4.55 and a 12-month high of $10.15. The company has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.54 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50 day moving average of $9.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $7.60.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ:MLCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.14. Melco Resorts & Entertainment had a net margin of 1.15% and a negative return on equity of 18.47%. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.05 EPS. The company's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Melco Resorts & Entertainment will post 0.16 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. ARGA Investment Management LP grew its position in Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 29,760,953 shares of the company's stock worth $156,840,000 after purchasing an additional 108,529 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Melco Resorts & Entertainment in the 1st quarter worth $31,946,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,015,200 shares of the company's stock worth $31,700,000 after purchasing an additional 846,504 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 1,819.4% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,497,684 shares of the company's stock worth $39,748,000 after purchasing an additional 5,211,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brightlight Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Melco Resorts & Entertainment in the 1st quarter worth $15,141,000. 39.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Melco Resorts & Entertainment

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited, through its subsidiaries, develops, owns, and operates casino gaming and entertainment casino resort facilities in Asia. It owns and operates City of Dreams, an integrated casino resort that has 500 gaming tables and 800 gaming machines; approximately 1,400 hotel rooms and suites; a wet stage performance theater with approximately 2,000 seats; approximately 30 restaurants and bars, and 150 retail outlets; and recreation and leisure facilities, including health and fitness clubs, swimming pools, spa and salons, and banquet and meeting facilities.

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