Arete Research Upgrades SEA (NYSE:SE) to “Strong-Buy”

SEA (NYSE:SE) was upgraded by investment analysts at Arete Research from a “neutral” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $152.00 target price on the Internet company based in Singapore’s stock. Arete Research’s target price indicates a potential upside of 33.94% from the stock’s current price.

SE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of SEA in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Benchmark raised their price target on SEA from $140.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded SEA from a “sector perform” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of SEA in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of SEA from $168.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.40.

SEA Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE SE opened at $113.48 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $69.34 billion, a PE ratio of 43.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $111.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.11. SEA has a 52 week low of $77.05 and a 52 week high of $199.30.

SEA (NYSE:SE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The Internet company based in Singapore reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $7.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.12 billion. SEA had a net margin of 5.98% and a return on equity of 13.54%. SEA’s revenue was up 48.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that SEA will post 2.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SEA news, COO Gang Ye sold 30,000 shares of SEA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.35, for a total transaction of $3,880,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 430,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,620,500. The trade was a 6.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Xiaodong Li sold 1,057,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.80, for a total value of $137,282,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 288,450 shares in the company, valued at $37,440,810. This represents a 78.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 2,009,366 shares of company stock valued at $245,180,736 in the last 90 days. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SEA

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. National Pension Service grew its holdings in SEA by 10.0% in the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 605,437 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore’s stock valued at $58,019,000 after purchasing an additional 54,819 shares during the period. C WorldWide Group Holding A S lifted its position in shares of SEA by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 198,560 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore’s stock valued at $19,028,000 after buying an additional 4,953 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of SEA by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 879,107 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore’s stock valued at $84,245,000 after buying an additional 50,965 shares in the last quarter. Carrhae Capital LLP acquired a new stake in SEA in the 2nd quarter valued at $140,501,000. Finally, Carmignac Gestion grew its stake in SEA by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 651,818 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore’s stock valued at $62,349,000 after acquiring an additional 14,242 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.53% of the company’s stock.

SEA Company Profile

Sea Limited (NYSE: SE) is a Singapore-based global consumer internet company that develops and operates digital services across entertainment, e-commerce and financial technology. Founded in 2009 as Garena, the company adopted the Sea name in 2017 as it expanded beyond online gaming.

Garena, Sea’s digital entertainment business, publishes and develops online games, including the widely distributed mobile battle royale title Free Fire. Garena also provides an online platform for game-related content and community activities.

Shopee operates an e-commerce marketplace that connects consumers, sellers and brands.