Investors Buy High Volume of PENN Entertainment Call Options (NASDAQ:PENN)

PENN Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PENN - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 26,686 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 56% compared to the average daily volume of 17,116 call options.

Insider Activity at PENN Entertainment

In other news, Director David A. Handler purchased 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $14.83 per share, with a total value of $148,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 322,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,789,215.03. This trade represents a 3.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jay A. Snowden purchased 34,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $14.70 per share, with a total value of $499,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,082,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,914,587.50. This trade represents a 3.24% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 2.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of PENN Entertainment

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of PENN Entertainment by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 13,044 shares of the company's stock valued at $259,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of PENN Entertainment by 38.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,636 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of PENN Entertainment by 6.7% during the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 13,877 shares of the company's stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 877 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of PENN Entertainment by 5.2% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 19,327 shares of the company's stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of PENN Entertainment by 201.5% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,574 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,052 shares during the last quarter. 91.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PENN Entertainment Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ PENN traded up $0.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $18.28. 4,099,388 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,856,608. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $15.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. PENN Entertainment has a 12-month low of $13.25 and a 12-month high of $23.08. The firm has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.48 and a beta of 1.57.

PENN Entertainment (NASDAQ:PENN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.29) by $0.04. PENN Entertainment had a negative net margin of 1.28% and a negative return on equity of 5.75%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.76) earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PENN Entertainment will post -1.61 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on PENN shares. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of PENN Entertainment from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of PENN Entertainment from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of PENN Entertainment from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of PENN Entertainment from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of PENN Entertainment from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PENN Entertainment presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $23.15.

About PENN Entertainment

PENN Entertainment, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated entertainment, sports content, and casino gaming experiences. The company operates through five segments: Northeast, South, West, Midwest, and Interactive. It operates online sports betting in various jurisdictions; and iCasino under Hollywood Casino, L'Auberge, ESPN BET, and theScore Bet Sportsbook and Casino brands.