Playtika (NASDAQ:PLTK) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Playtika Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:PLTK)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $2.74, but opened at $2.95. Playtika shares last traded at $3.1110, with a volume of 525,696 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PLTK. Wedbush lowered Playtika from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $3.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Citigroup reduced their target price on Playtika from $7.00 to $5.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Playtika from $4.75 to $4.25 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Playtika from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Playtika from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.38.

Playtika Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.71 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.59.

Playtika (NASDAQ:PLTK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.82) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.14 by ($0.96). The firm had revenue of $678.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $660.32 million. Playtika had a negative return on equity of 114.29% and a negative net margin of 7.49%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.04) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Playtika Holding Corp. will post 0.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PLTK. Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Playtika in the 4th quarter worth approximately $180,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Playtika by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 35,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 6,975 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Playtika by 71.7% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 67,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,000 after buying an additional 28,280 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Playtika by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 575,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,308,000 after buying an additional 195,044 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guardian Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Playtika in the fourth quarter valued at about $58,000. Institutional investors own 11.94% of the company’s stock.

Playtika Company Profile

Playtika Ltd. (NASDAQ: PLTK) is a leading developer and publisher of free-to-play mobile and social games. Established in 2010 and headquartered in Herzliya, Israel, the company has built a reputation for creating engaging, social casino and casual gaming experiences. Playtika’s platform leverages data-driven analytics and in-game community features to drive player retention and monetization across multiple titles.

The company’s diverse portfolio includes flagship social casino games such as Slotomania, Bingo Blitz and Caesars Casino, as well as skill-based and casual offerings like World Series of Poker and House of Fun.