Wall Street Zen Upgrades Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ:MLCO) to "Buy"

Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ:MLCO - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on MLCO. Bank of America upped their target price on Melco Resorts & Entertainment from $5.70 to $6.60 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. UBS Group cut shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $4.60 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from $6.50 to $7.20 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Citigroup raised shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $6.25 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $7.50 to $6.70 in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $6.73.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Stock Performance

Shares of MLCO traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $6.84. The stock had a trading volume of 2,489,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,692,296. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $5.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.74. Melco Resorts & Entertainment has a fifty-two week low of $4.55 and a fifty-two week high of $8.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.86, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.79.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ:MLCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.13. Melco Resorts & Entertainment had a negative return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 1.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.21 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.04 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Melco Resorts & Entertainment will post 0.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Melco Resorts & Entertainment

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Melco Resorts & Entertainment in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,946,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,989,000. Brightlight Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Melco Resorts & Entertainment during the first quarter worth approximately $15,141,000. Eminence Capital LP boosted its stake in Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 7,735,919 shares of the company's stock worth $44,791,000 after buying an additional 1,402,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 206.5% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,009,189 shares of the company's stock worth $11,633,000 after buying an additional 1,353,617 shares during the last quarter. 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.