Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Caesars Entertainment Call Options (NASDAQ:CZR)

Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 25,089 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 76% compared to the average daily volume of 14,275 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Caesars Entertainment

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Caesars Entertainment by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 12,609,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $526,309,000 after acquiring an additional 1,983,151 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in Caesars Entertainment by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 5,859,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,847,000 after acquiring an additional 60,184 shares during the last quarter. Helikon Investments Ltd grew its position in Caesars Entertainment by 67.1% in the 3rd quarter. Helikon Investments Ltd now owns 1,587,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,264,000 after acquiring an additional 637,303 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY bought a new position in Caesars Entertainment in the 3rd quarter valued at $61,890,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Caesars Entertainment by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,454,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,712,000 after acquiring an additional 59,170 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.79% of the company’s stock.

Caesars Entertainment Stock Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ CZR opened at $37.01 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $40.58 and its 200 day moving average is $38.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.84. Caesars Entertainment has a 12 month low of $31.74 and a 12 month high of $50.51. The stock has a market cap of $7.86 billion, a PE ratio of -22.16 and a beta of 2.89.

Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.25). The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. Caesars Entertainment had a negative return on equity of 4.44% and a negative net margin of 3.20%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Caesars Entertainment will post -0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Caesars Entertainment from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Caesars Entertainment from $58.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Caesars Entertainment from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com raised Caesars Entertainment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Macquarie reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Caesars Entertainment in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.71.

About Caesars Entertainment

Caesars Entertainment, Inc operates as a gaming and hospitality company. The company owns, leases, or manages domestic properties in 18 states with slot machines, video lottery terminals and e-tables, and hotel rooms, as well as table games, including poker. It also operates and conducts retail and online sports wagering across 31 jurisdictions in North America and operates iGaming in five jurisdictions in North America; sports betting from our retail and online sportsbooks; and other games, such as keno.