Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Downgraded to "Hold" Rating by Robert W. Baird

Key Points

• Robert W. Baird downgraded Roku from “strong-buy” to “hold,” even though the broader analyst community still leans bullish with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $151.96.
• Roku shares were down 1.9% in the session, opening at $140.90, near their 52-week high of $148.88 and well above the 52-week low of $77.64.
• Recent fundamentals and insider activity were mixed: Roku beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, but insiders have sold a large amount of stock in the past three months, including notable sales by Mustafa Ozgen and Mai Fyfield.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Robert W. Baird from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on ROKU. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Roku from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 target price on Roku in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research lowered Roku from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Roku from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, William Blair lowered shares of Roku from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Roku has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $151.96.

Roku Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:ROKU opened at $140.90 on Monday. Roku has a 52-week low of $77.64 and a 52-week high of $148.88. The company has a 50 day moving average of $119.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $106.65. The company has a market capitalization of $20.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.94 and a beta of 2.06.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.20 billion. Roku had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 7.64%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.19) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Roku will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Mustafa Ozgen sold 10,194 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.00, for a total value of $1,467,936.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 19,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,762,640. The trade was a 34.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mai Fyfield sold 832 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.64, for a total value of $99,540.48. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,739.96. This represents a 13.37% 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 a total of 706,194 shares of company stock valued at $80,756,499 over the last three months. Company insiders own 13.45% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Roku

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Roku by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,998,674 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,301,557,000 after buying an additional 322,858 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Roku by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,860,149 shares of the company's stock valued at $310,298,000 after acquiring an additional 274,024 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Roku by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,464,130 shares of the company's stock valued at $267,389,000 after acquiring an additional 168,214 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Roku by 229.5% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,038,347 shares of the company's stock valued at $192,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Roku by 352.3% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,650,448 shares of the company's stock valued at $165,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285,585 shares during the last quarter. 86.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Roku News

Here are the key news stories impacting Roku this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fox’s $22 billion acquisition of Roku gives shareholders a clear takeover premium and sent the stock sharply higher as traders priced in deal value. Reuters: Fox to buy Roku in $22 billion deal
• Positive Sentiment: The transaction could strengthen Roku’s strategic position by pairing its streaming platform with Fox’s content and advertising ecosystem, supporting the bull case for a larger connected-TV leader. CNBC: Fox to buy streaming device maker Roku for $22 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Heavy options activity and earlier sale-talk reports suggest traders were positioning for a deal before the formal announcement, adding momentum to the stock. Stocktwits: Roku lands $22B buyout offer from Fox
• Neutral Sentiment: Trading in ROKU was briefly halted for “news pending,” reflecting the market’s anticipation of a major announcement rather than a change in fundamentals. Reuters: Fox to buy Roku in $22 billion deal
• Negative Sentiment: Some investor-rights firms have opened investigations into whether the deal gives Roku shareholders a fair price, which could create uncertainty or delay-related headlines. PRNewswire: Shareholder Alert on Roku fair price investigation

Roku Company Profile

Roku, Inc NASDAQ: ROKU is a technology company that develops and operates a proprietary streaming platform designed to deliver entertainment content to consumers via internet-connected devices and smart televisions. Since its inception in 2002 in California, Roku has focused on simplifying access to streaming services for viewers worldwide. The company's platform enables users to discover, access and manage a wide array of over-the-top content from major streaming services, free ad-supported channels and niche providers.

At the core of Roku's product lineup are a range of streaming players and sticks, which connect to televisions via HDMI and deliver the Roku OS experience.

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.