Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $67.36, but opened at $69.47. Roku shares last traded at $73.11, with a volume of 1,090,831 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on ROKU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Roku from $92.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Roku in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Roku from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $74.00 to $129.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Pivotal Research raised shares of Roku from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $65.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Roku from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Roku presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.71.

Roku Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -81.22 and a beta of 2.12. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.12.

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

Insider Transactions at Roku

In other news, CFO Dan Jedda sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.18, for a total transaction of $77,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 63,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,905,174.90. This trade represents a 1.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.77, for a total transaction of $1,994,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,116,936.26. This represents a 48.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 92,308 shares of company stock valued at $8,213,436 in the last ninety days. 13.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Roku

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Roku by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,183,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,426,134,000 after buying an additional 4,613,570 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Roku by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,249,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $910,597,000 after buying an additional 185,676 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Roku by 663.9% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,335,813 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,644,000 after buying an additional 2,030,036 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Roku by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,269,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $168,734,000 after purchasing an additional 215,841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Roku by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,147,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,353,000 after purchasing an additional 56,820 shares during the last quarter. 86.30% of the stock is owned by 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.