Activision Blizzard Company Profile (NASDAQ:ATVI)

Activision Blizzard trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "ATVI."

Activision Blizzard announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 11th 2017, which permits the company to buyback $1,000,000,000.00 in shares, according to EventVestor. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 3.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Activision Blizzard, Inc (NASDAQ:ATVI) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May, 4th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Activision Blizzard had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 16.90%. The company's revenue was up 31.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. View Activision Blizzard's Earnings History.

Activision Blizzard is scheduled to release their next quarterly earnings announcement on Thursday, August, 3rd 2017. View Earnings Estimates for Activision Blizzard.

23 analysts have issued 1 year target prices for Activision Blizzard's stock. Their forecasts range from $40.00 to $75.00. On average, they anticipate Activision Blizzard's stock price to reach $60.78 in the next twelve months. View Analyst Ratings for Activision Blizzard.

Here are some recent quotes from research analysts about Activision Blizzard stock:

• 1. According to Zacks Investment Research, "Activision’s enviable product portfolio that includes the likes of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft along with increasing digital revenues will continue to drive growth. Moreover, the company will continue to benefit from acquisition of King Digital. The company’s attempts to become a broad-based media company are prudent in our view. Apart from launching a movie studio and consumer products division, the company is also strengthening its presence in the lucrative e-sports market. Over the past one year, share prices have outperformed the Zacks categorized Toys/Games/Hobby Prod industry. However, hit driven and competitive nature of the video game industry begets caution.  " (7/7/2017)
• 2. Macquarie analysts commented, "Investor interest in eSports is rapidly building and we expect near-term newsflow from ATVI about the sale of teams for its coming Overwatch League to drive significantly more investor attention to the eSports theme... A crucial component to the success of the Overwatch League will be its viewership. As a game, Overwatch has been a tremendous success for ATVI, reaching 25mm registered players and a significant portion of Blizzard's $2.4B revenue. But as an eSport, though off to a solid start, Overwatch is still very much the newcomer among the top eSports games on the planet. On Twitch.TV (the leading eSports streaming site), Overwatch has consistently ranked the #5 most-viewed eSport behind League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Dota 2, and Hearthstone, and is averaging around 30K concurrent viewers compared to League of Legend's leading 130K. Overwatch does often drop below #5 on the charts, but this is almost always due to new game releases that only impact the rankings on their opening week." (3/22/2017)
• 3. Argus analysts commented, "Overwatch" and King Digital’s "Candy Crush." (2/15/2017)
• 4. Stifel Nicolaus analysts commented, "This past week, Activision Blizzard reported better-than-expected 4Q results, with non-GAAP EPS of $0.92 (vs. $0.83) which came in ahead of our $0.73 estimate, and consensus and guidance (implied) at $0.74. The company was able to overcome a disappointing Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare release, through a combination of digital momentum (+94%) and contributions from other franchises (i.e., Overwatch + World of Warcraft). And we thought management's preliminary guidance for '17 was in line/slightly better vs. what we had perceived to be a very wide range of expectations. Near-term, earnings may need to catch up with the share price, in our opinion. But looking further ahead, we think the stock can continue to work higher in anticipation of a 2H17 recovery for Activision Publishing + stronger line-up for '18, and thus we remain Buy-rated on ATVI." (2/10/2017)
• 5. Mizuho analysts commented, "A|B posted strong 4Q results with non-GAAP EPS of $0.92 coming in $0.19 ahead of Street expectations. In our view, this quarter highlighted the strength of the company's portfolio of games, which dramatically offset disappointing sales of this year's Call of Duty title. The company also provided guidance for 2017, with EPS expectations materially below consensus, but in line with our estimate. We believe investors were already there with us, and viewed the outcome as a positive catalyst. The company tends to be conservative with its guidance at the start of the year and we see upside potential throughout the year." (2/10/2017)

Activision Blizzard saw a increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 11,443,393 shares, an increase of 30.4% from the June 15th total of 8,776,094 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,223,323 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company's stock are short sold.

Some companies that are related to Activision Blizzard include Time Warner (TWX), Netflix (NFLX), Grupo Televisa S.A. (TV), Twenty-First Century Fox (FOXA), Twenty-First Century Fox (FOX), Sony Corp Ord (SNE), Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS), Carnival Corporation (CUK), Carnival Corporation (CCL), Marriott International (MAR), Sands China (SCHYY), Electronic Arts (EA), Liberty Global PLC (LBTYA), Liberty Global PLC (LBTYK), Panasonic (PCRFY), DISH Network Corporation (DISH), CBS Corporation (CBS) and Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI).

Activision Blizzard's management team includes the folowing people:

• Brian G. Kelly, Chairman of the Board
• Robert A. Kotick, Chief Executive Officer, Executive Director
• Thomas Tippl, Vice Chairman of the Board
• Spencer Neumann, Chief Financial Officer
• Eric L. Hirshberg, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Publishing Inc.
• Michael Morhaime, President and Chief Executive Officer of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
• Riccardo Zacconi, Chief Executive Officer of King Digital Entertainment Limited
• Dennis M. Durkin, Chief Corporate Officer
• Brian M. Stolz, Chief People Officer of Activision Blizzard
• Christopher B. Walther Chris, Chief Legal Officer

Activision Blizzard's stock is owned by a variety of of institutional and retail investors. Top institutional shareholders include Swedbank (0.46%), KAMES CAPITAL plc (0.24%), Strs Ohio (0.21%), Assenagon Asset Management S.A. (0.20%), Bank of Montreal Can (0.16%) and Handelsbanken Fonder AB (0.09%). Company insiders that own Activision Blizzard stock include Brian G Kelly, Christopher B Walther, Dennis M Durkin, Eric Hirshberg, Michael Morhaime, Peter J Nolan, Riccardo Zacconi, Robert A Kotick, Robert J Morgado, Stephen G Wereb and Thomas Tippl. View Institutional Ownership Trends for Activision Blizzard.

Activision Blizzard's stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Swedbank, Handelsbanken Fonder AB, KAMES CAPITAL plc, Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Company LTD, Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning, NN Investment Partners Holdings N.V., Capstone Asset Management Co. and Exxonmobil Investment Management Inc. TX. Company insiders that have sold Activision Blizzard stock in the last year include Brian G Kelly, Christopher B Walther, Dennis M Durkin, Michael Morhaime, Riccardo Zacconi, Robert A Kotick, Robert J Morgado and Thomas Tippl. View Insider Buying and Selling for Activision Blizzard.

Activision Blizzard's stock was purchased by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Assenagon Asset Management S.A., Bank of Montreal Can, Strs Ohio, Russell Investments Group Ltd., Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V., Gladstone Capital Management LLP, APG Asset Management N.V. and National Pension Service. View Insider Buying and Selling for Activision Blizzard.

Shares of Activision Blizzard can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages include Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Scottrade, Fidelity and Charles Schwab.

One share of Activision Blizzard stock can currently be purchased for approximately $61.17.