SEA (NYSE:SE) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Bank of America upgraded Sea Limited's stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating, resulting in a significant price jump from $163.42 to an opening price of $174.49.
• Multiple analysts have raised their target prices for SEA, with Barclays increasing it to $214.00 and JPMorgan to $230.00, reflecting strong confidence in the stock.
• SEA's recent earnings report showed a miss in EPS at $0.65 compared to expectations of $1.03, but the company's revenue increased by 38.2% year-over-year to $5.26 billion.

Sea Limited Sponsored ADR (NYSE:SE - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after Bank of America upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $163.42, but opened at $174.49. Bank of America now has a $215.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $206.00. SEA shares last traded at $167.36, with a volume of 3,599,446 shares trading hands.

Several other research analysts have also commented on SE. Barclays lifted their target price on SEA from $200.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on SEA from $208.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of SEA in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush lifted their target price on SEA from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Benchmark lifted their target price on SEA from $180.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SEA currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $180.78.

Institutional Trading of SEA

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of SEA by 2,082.7% in the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 28,766,718 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore's stock worth $3,753,769,000 after purchasing an additional 27,448,779 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of SEA by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,777,353 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore's stock worth $623,355,000 after buying an additional 354,158 shares in the last quarter. Kontiki Capital Management HK Ltd. raised its stake in shares of SEA by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Kontiki Capital Management HK Ltd. now owns 3,388,516 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore's stock worth $442,167,000 after buying an additional 111,400 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of SEA by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,219,713 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore's stock worth $420,140,000 after buying an additional 273,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC raised its stake in shares of SEA by 144.6% in the 1st quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 2,585,179 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore's stock worth $337,340,000 after buying an additional 1,528,301 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.53% of the company's stock.

SEA Stock Up 2.0%

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $182.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $159.28. The company has a market capitalization of $98.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.21 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

SEA (NYSE:SE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 12th. The Internet company based in Singapore reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $5.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5 billion. SEA had a return on equity of 13.66% and a net margin of 6.23%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 38.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sea Limited Sponsored ADR will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About SEA

Sea Ltd. is an internet and mobile platform company, which engages in the provision of online gaming services. It operates through the following segments: Digital Entertainment, E-Commerce, and Digital Financial Services. The Digital Entertainment segment offers and develops mobile and PC online games.

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