Wall Street Zen Upgrades Playtika (NASDAQ:PLTK) to "Buy"

Key Points

• Playtika has been upgraded from a "hold" to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating increased optimism among analysts about the company's stock.
• Despite this upgrade, some analysts have reduced their price targets, with Morgan Stanley cutting theirs from $7.25 to $5.75 and Wedbush lowering theirs from $11.50 to $7.00.
• Playtika's recent earnings report showed a loss of $0.13 per share compared to expectations, while quarterly revenue rose by 11% year-over-year but was below consensus estimates.

Playtika (NASDAQ:PLTK - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Playtika from $7.25 to $5.75 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Playtika from $11.50 to $7.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Playtika has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $7.04.

Playtika Stock Performance

Shares of PLTK traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $3.82. The stock had a trading volume of 550,310 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,690,999. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.85. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $4.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.20. Playtika has a 12-month low of $3.65 and a 12-month high of $8.80.

Playtika (NASDAQ:PLTK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.13). Playtika had a net margin of 3.23% and a negative return on equity of 83.90%. The company had revenue of $696.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $706.03 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.23 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Playtika will post 0.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Playtika

In other news, major shareholder Holding Uk Ltd Playtika II sold 389,053 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.70, for a total transaction of $1,828,549.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 199,510,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $937,699,401.70. This represents a 0.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 4.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLTK. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Playtika by 57.2% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 4,216 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Playtika by 117.1% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,996 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Playtika during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. bought a new position in Playtika in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Playtika by 280.9% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,707 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 4,946 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.94% of the company's stock.

Playtika Company Profile

Playtika Holding Corp., together with its subsidiaries, develops mobile games in the United States, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia pacific, and internationally. The company owns a portfolio of casual and social casino-themed games. It distributes its games to the end customer through various web and mobile platforms and direct-to-consumer platforms.