Caesars Entertainment Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:CZR)

Key Points

• Caesars Entertainment experienced a significant increase in put options trading, with investors purchasing 33,835 puts, up about 209% from its average volume.
• Recent institutional activity showed hedge funds increasing their stakes in Caesars, with ownership now at approximately 91.79% among institutional investors.
• The company reported a loss per share of ($0.39), missing analysts’ expectations, although it had a revenue of $2.91 billion, exceeding forecasts.

Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 33,835 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 209% compared to the average daily volume of 10,939 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Caesars Entertainment

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Caesars Entertainment by 24.0% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 28,250 shares of the company's stock valued at $801,000 after acquiring an additional 5,465 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Caesars Entertainment by 654.5% in the second quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 1,787,505 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,747,000 after acquiring an additional 1,550,589 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Caesars Entertainment by 31.1% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 9,941 shares of the company's stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 2,361 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Caesars Entertainment by 3.5% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 16,155 shares of the company's stock valued at $459,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sender Co & Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Caesars Entertainment in the second quarter worth $307,000. 91.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CZR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Caesars Entertainment in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. JMP Securities lowered their target price on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.33.

Caesars Entertainment Stock Down 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ CZR traded down $0.84 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $25.56. 58,444,637 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,559,919. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.08. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $26.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.20. Caesars Entertainment has a one year low of $21.40 and a one year high of $45.93. The company has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.78 and a beta of 2.24.

Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.39) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.46). Caesars Entertainment had a negative net margin of 1.71% and a negative return on equity of 4.55%. The business had revenue of $2.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.56) earnings per share. Caesars Entertainment's revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Caesars Entertainment will post -0.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caesars Entertainment Company Profile

Caesars Entertainment, Inc operates as a gaming and hospitality company. The company owns, leases, or manages domestic properties in 18 states with slot machines, video lottery terminals and e-tables, and hotel rooms, as well as table games, including poker. It also operates and conducts retail and online sports wagering across 31 jurisdictions in North America and operates iGaming in five jurisdictions in North America; sports betting from our retail and online sportsbooks; and other games, such as keno.