Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Earns “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 46.82% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on ROKU. Moffett Nathanson raised Roku from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Roku in a research report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Roku from $92.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Roku from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Roku from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $74.00 to $129.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.67.

Roku Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ROKU opened at $81.73 on Monday. Roku has a one year low of $48.33 and a one year high of $104.96. The company has a market cap of $11.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -91.83 and a beta of 2.12. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.54.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.20. Roku had a negative net margin of 3.15% and a negative return on equity of 5.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Roku will post -0.3 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Matthew C. Banks sold 1,906 shares of Roku stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.36, for a total transaction of $153,166.16. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $583,092.16. The trade was a 20.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Charles Collier sold 7,181 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.25, for a total value of $561,913.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $577,485. The trade was a 49.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,908 shares of company stock worth $8,633,436. Insiders own 13.98% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Roku

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Roku by 369.9% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Roku in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Raelipskie Partnership bought a new position in shares of Roku during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Roku in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Roku by 4,091.7% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. 86.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Roku

Roku, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates a TV streaming platform in the United states and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Platform and Devices. Its streaming platform allows users to find and access TV shows, movies, news, sports, and others. The Platform segment offers digital advertising, including direct and programmatic video advertising, media and entertainment promotional spending, and related services; and streaming services distribution, such as subscription and transaction revenue shares, and sale of premium subscriptions and branded app buttons on remote controls.