Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU) hit a new 52-week high on Saturday . The stock traded as high as $148.88 and last traded at $143.66, with a volume of 14999929 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $119.64.

Key Stories Impacting Roku

Here are the key news stories impacting Roku this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Roku is reportedly in sale talks, including a possible media tie-up, which could signal a strategic transaction or premium valuation if a deal materializes. Roku said to be in sale talks, including likely media tie-up, Bloomberg News reports
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI raised its price target to $185 from $160 and kept a bullish rating, reinforcing optimism around Roku’s monetization efforts in its home screen and advertising-tech initiatives. Roku shares jump as fresh bullish analyst notes extend recent price-target hikes
• Positive Sentiment: Additional recent price-target hikes from firms like Morgan Stanley have added to the bullish analyst narrative, suggesting Wall Street sees more upside in Roku’s ad and platform strategy. Roku shares jump as fresh bullish analyst notes extend recent price-target hikes
• Neutral Sentiment: Several media stories highlighted Roku’s expanding free channels and consumer product discounts, but these appear more promotional than material fundamental catalysts. Roku Quietly Added Four New Free Channels For The Month Of June
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Anthony Wood sold 18,000 shares in a pre-arranged trading plan, which may add some caution, although the sale was not necessarily a bearish signal. Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) CEO Anthony Wood Sells 18,000 Shares

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ROKU has been the topic of several analyst reports. Benchmark boosted their price objective on Roku from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group set a $170.00 target price on Roku in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Roku from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Roku from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Pivotal Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 target price (up from $140.00) on shares of Roku in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Twenty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $146.96.

Roku Stock Up 20.1%

The stock has a market cap of $21.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.02 and a beta of 2.06. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $118.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.23.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. Roku had a return on equity of 7.64% and a net margin of 4.06%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.19) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Roku, Inc. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Roku

In related news, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $3,250,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Charles Collier sold 20,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.94, for a total value of $2,565,892.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,899,088. The trade was a 57.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 721,194 shares of company stock valued at $82,169,949 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Roku

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ROKU. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Roku by 275.5% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,586,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $258,897,000 after purchasing an additional 1,897,407 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Roku by 229.5% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,038,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,772 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Roku by 7,087.7% in the fourth quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,421,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401,664 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Roku by 352.3% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,650,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285,585 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Roku in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $92,808,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.30% of the company’s stock.

Roku Company Profile

Roku, Inc (NASDAQ: ROKU) is a technology company that develops and operates a proprietary streaming platform designed to deliver entertainment content to consumers via internet-connected devices and smart televisions. Since its inception in 2002 in California, Roku has focused on simplifying access to streaming services for viewers worldwide. The company’s platform enables users to discover, access and manage a wide array of over-the-top content from major streaming services, free ad-supported channels and niche providers.

At the core of Roku’s product lineup are a range of streaming players and sticks, which connect to televisions via HDMI and deliver the Roku OS experience.