Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Dave & Buster’s Entertainment (NASDAQ:PLAY)

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 5,009 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 37% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,653 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Dave & Buster’s Entertainment news, Director Nathaniel Lipman acquired 12,000 shares of Dave & Buster’s Entertainment stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $6.78 per share, for a total transaction of $81,360.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 30,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $208,247.70. This trade represents a 64.12% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Cory Hatton bought 4,000 shares of Dave & Buster’s Entertainment stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $6.50 per share, with a total value of $26,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 104,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $679,087.50. This represents a 3.98% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 1.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dave & Buster’s Entertainment

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PLAY. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Dave & Buster’s Entertainment in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,725,000. Wolf Hill Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Dave & Buster’s Entertainment during the second quarter valued at approximately $15,468,694. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Dave & Buster’s Entertainment by 44.9% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,509,752 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,351,000 after purchasing an additional 468,174 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its holdings in Dave & Buster’s Entertainment by 200.7% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 537,254 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,125,000 after buying an additional 358,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Dave & Buster’s Entertainment in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,459,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on PLAY shares. Citizens Jmp initiated coverage on shares of Dave & Buster’s Entertainment in a report on Monday, June 29th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Dave & Buster’s Entertainment from $22.00 to $13.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Dave & Buster’s Entertainment in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Dave & Buster’s Entertainment from $12.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Dave & Buster’s Entertainment from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.33.

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Stock Down 4.5%

PLAY stock opened at $7.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $264.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.96 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a 50-day moving average of $8.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.07, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.21. Dave & Buster’s Entertainment has a 52-week low of $6.26 and a 52-week high of $22.10.

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment (NASDAQ:PLAY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 14th. The restaurant operator reported ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.46). Dave & Buster’s Entertainment had a negative return on equity of 51.87% and a negative net margin of 4.26%. The company had revenue of $544.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $556.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Dave & Buster’s Entertainment will post -1.58 EPS for the current year.

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Company Profile

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc is an entertainment and dining company that operates venues combining arcade games, interactive attractions, sports viewing and casual food and beverage service. Its venues are designed for group entertainment, including family outings, birthday celebrations, corporate events and other social gatherings.

The company operates under the Dave & Buster’s and Main Event brands. Dave & Buster’s locations generally feature a large arcade with games that award redeemable prizes, along with sports bars, restaurant service and event spaces.