Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) Raised to Strong-Buy at Benchmark

Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Benchmark to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Robinhood Markets in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Argus upped their price target on shares of Robinhood Markets from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Robinhood Markets from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $124.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Robinhood Markets from $122.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $145.00 target price (up from $135.00) on shares of Robinhood Markets in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.83.

Robinhood Markets Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ HOOD opened at $112.57 on Wednesday. Robinhood Markets has a 1 year low of $63.51 and a 1 year high of $153.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $103.62 and a 200 day moving average of $89.67. The stock has a market cap of $101.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 2.34.

Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.18. Robinhood Markets had a net margin of 42.01% and a return on equity of 22.43%. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 32.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Robinhood Markets will post 2.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Robinhood Markets

In related news, insider Steven Quirk sold 24,416 shares of Robinhood Markets stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.33, for a total value of $2,937,977.28. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 77,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,366,366.87. This trade represents a 23.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Shiv Verma sold 3,982 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.07, for a total transaction of $378,568.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 51,963 shares in the company, valued at $4,940,122.41. This represents a 7.12% 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 sold a total of 570,260 shares of company stock valued at $64,115,060 over the last three months. 13.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Robinhood Markets

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HOOD. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Robinhood Markets by 527.8% during the 4th quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the period. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Robinhood Markets during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Robinhood Markets during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. bought a new position in Robinhood Markets in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new position in Robinhood Markets in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors own 93.27% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Robinhood Markets

Here are the key news stories impacting Robinhood Markets this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong August activity and event-contract growth: Robinhood reported 28.6 million customers and broadly positive August operating metrics. Separately, event-contract activity reportedly increased 15-fold year over year, supporting the company’s diversification beyond traditional brokerage revenue. Robinhood August operating data Robinhood event contracts growth
• Positive Sentiment: New revenue opportunities: Citizens JMP raised its price target to $165 from $155 and maintained a Market Outperform rating. Citizens also projected Robinhood Chain could generate $365 million in revenue by 2027. Robinhood’s underwriting role in the Oura IPO could provide investment-banking fee revenue and create opportunities to participate in larger IPOs. Citizens Robinhood Chain projection Robinhood investment banking ambitions
• Neutral Sentiment: Expansion through partnerships: Robinhood is expanding prediction-market access through arrangements involving Crypto.com and OG.com, although the ultimate financial contribution remains uncertain.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and legal concerns: Robinhood plans to stop offering sports prediction markets in Michigan amid litigation. A broader legal update highlights rapidly changing rules across several states, creating uncertainty around the company’s prediction-market growth strategy. Robinhood Michigan prediction markets lawsuit Prediction markets legal update
• Negative Sentiment: Tokenization faces scrutiny: Objections from securities issuers and unresolved regulatory questions could raise compliance costs and slow Robinhood’s international rollout of tokenized stocks. Robinhood tokenized-stock scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sale: Director Oluwadara Treseder sold 1,875 shares for approximately $234,375 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The sale was small relative to her remaining stake but may add modest caution.

Robinhood Markets Company Profile

Robinhood Markets, Inc is a financial services company that operates a digital investing and trading platform. Through its mobile app and website, the company provides access to U.S. stocks, exchange-traded funds, options, cryptocurrencies and other investment products. Robinhood also offers individual retirement accounts, margin investing and cash-management services, subject to applicable eligibility requirements and regulations.

The company generates revenue from sources that include interest earned on customer cash and margin balances, transaction-based revenue related to options and cryptocurrency trading, subscription fees for Robinhood Gold and other service-related activities.