Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ:MLCO) Raised to "Strong-Buy" at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research has upgraded Melco Resorts & Entertainment from a "hold" to a "strong-buy" rating, indicating increased confidence in the company's potential.
• Other research firms have also adjusted their ratings, with Susquehanna raising the price target to $10.00 and Citigroup raising it from $11.00 to $11.50, reflecting a positive outlook for the stock.
• Melco Resorts reported earnings of $0.23 per share, significantly beating analysts' expectations, and its revenue rose 14.5% year-over-year, showcasing strong financial performance.

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ:MLCO - Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Thursday, September 4th,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. CLSA raised Melco Resorts & Entertainment from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Susquehanna upped their target price on Melco Resorts & Entertainment from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Melco Resorts & Entertainment from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Bank of America upped their price target on Melco Resorts & Entertainment from $5.70 to $6.60 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Melco Resorts & Entertainment from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $7.20 to $9.50 in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Melco Resorts & Entertainment has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $8.15.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Price Performance

Shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment stock traded up $0.17 during trading on Thursday, hitting $9.90. The stock had a trading volume of 1,193,328 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,801,028. The firm has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.04 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $9.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.91. Melco Resorts & Entertainment has a fifty-two week low of $4.55 and a fifty-two week high of $10.15.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment (NASDAQ:MLCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.14. Melco Resorts & Entertainment had a negative return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 1.15%.The business had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.05 earnings per share. Melco Resorts & Entertainment's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Melco Resorts & Entertainment will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. ARGA Investment Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 29,760,953 shares of the company's stock valued at $156,840,000 after acquiring an additional 108,529 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,081,335 shares of the company's stock worth $35,211,000 after acquiring an additional 83,268 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,946,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,015,200 shares of the company's stock worth $31,700,000 after acquiring an additional 846,504 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Melco Resorts & Entertainment by 1,819.4% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,497,684 shares of the company's stock worth $39,748,000 after buying an additional 5,211,263 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.62% of the company's stock.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Company Profile

Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited, through its subsidiaries, develops, owns, and operates casino gaming and entertainment casino resort facilities in Asia. It owns and operates City of Dreams, an integrated casino resort that has 500 gaming tables and 800 gaming machines; approximately 1,400 hotel rooms and suites; a wet stage performance theater with approximately 2,000 seats; approximately 30 restaurants and bars, and 150 retail outlets; and recreation and leisure facilities, including health and fitness clubs, swimming pools, spa and salons, and banquet and meeting facilities.