Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRI) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Sell-Side Analysts

Shares of Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRI) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $123.40.

MCRI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Monarch Casino & Resort in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Monarch Casino & Resort from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Monarch Casino & Resort from $116.00 to $114.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Texas Capital upgraded Monarch Casino & Resort to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Monarch Casino & Resort from $128.00 to $123.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th.

Insider Activity

In other Monarch Casino & Resort news, CEO John Farahi sold 5,000 shares of Monarch Casino & Resort stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.00, for a total value of $620,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 611,556 shares in the company, valued at $75,832,944. The trade was a 0.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 26.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MCRI. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort in the second quarter valued at approximately $678,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Monarch Casino & Resort by 23.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 188,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,837,000 after buying an additional 35,536 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Monarch Casino & Resort during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,467,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Monarch Casino & Resort during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $270,679,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Monarch Casino & Resort during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,501,000. 62.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Monarch Casino & Resort Trading Down 0.2%

MCRI stock opened at $110.63 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.48. Monarch Casino & Resort has a 1-year low of $88.34 and a 1-year high of $135.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a PE ratio of 17.53 and a beta of 1.38.

Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $146.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $147.93 million. Monarch Casino & Resort had a return on equity of 20.60% and a net margin of 20.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.69 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Monarch Casino & Resort will post 6.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Monarch Casino & Resort Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 1st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Monarch Casino & Resort’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.02%.

About Monarch Casino & Resort

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. operates destination casino resorts in Nevada and Colorado. Its properties are Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno and Monarch Casino Resort Spa in Black Hawk, offering gaming, lodging, dining and other resort amenities. The company’s resorts include casino games, restaurants, bars, hotel accommodations, spas and entertainment. Atlantis serves visitors to the Reno-Tahoe area, while Monarch’s Black Hawk property draws guests from the Denver region and elsewhere in Colorado.