Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Trading Up 1.8% – Still a Buy?

Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU) shares shot up 1.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $91.27 and last traded at $90.21. 4,128,366 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 5% from the average session volume of 3,931,364 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.58.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Roku in a report on Friday, February 13th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Roku in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Roku from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Guggenheim increased their target price on Roku from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $135.00 target price on Roku and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.96.

Roku Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 158.27 and a beta of 1.99.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.25. Roku had a return on equity of 3.42% and a net margin of 1.87%.The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.24) earnings per share. Roku’s revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Roku, Inc. will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Roku

In related news, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.61, for a total value of $8,220,750.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Gilbert Fuchsberg sold 3,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.78, for a total transaction of $353,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 59,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,428,245.32. The trade was a 5.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 216,710 shares of company stock worth $22,494,968. Corporate insiders own 13.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Roku

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ROKU. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Roku by 275.5% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,586,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,897,000 after buying an additional 1,897,407 shares during the period. Tableaux LLC bought a new stake in Roku in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,746,000. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in Roku by 7,087.7% during the 4th quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,421,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,212,000 after acquiring an additional 1,401,664 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its position in Roku by 352.3% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,650,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285,585 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Roku during the 4th quarter worth approximately $92,808,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.30% of the company’s stock.

About Roku

Roku, Inc (NASDAQ: ROKU) is a technology company that develops and operates a proprietary streaming platform designed to deliver entertainment content to consumers via internet-connected devices and smart televisions. Since its inception in 2002 in California, Roku has focused on simplifying access to streaming services for viewers worldwide. The company’s platform enables users to discover, access and manage a wide array of over-the-top content from major streaming services, free ad-supported channels and niche providers.

At the core of Roku’s product lineup are a range of streaming players and sticks, which connect to televisions via HDMI and deliver the Roku OS experience.