Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRI) Short Interest Update

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRI) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 233,700 shares, a decline of 14.3% from the December 15th total of 272,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 100,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial raised shares of Monarch Casino & Resort from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $100.00 in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Monarch Casino & Resort from $73.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Monarch Casino & Resort in a report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $79.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Monarch Casino & Resort from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Monarch Casino & Resort from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.00.

Monarch Casino & Resort Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of MCRI traded up $0.37 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $83.77. 73,165 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 105,956. Monarch Casino & Resort has a 52-week low of $64.50 and a 52-week high of $89.06. The company has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.53 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.20.

Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $137.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $134.50 million. Monarch Casino & Resort had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 16.82%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Monarch Casino & Resort will post 4.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monarch Casino & Resort news, CEO John Farahi sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.70, for a total transaction of $77,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 528,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,059,477.20. The trade was a 0.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 24.94% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after buying an additional 3,541 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Monarch Casino & Resort in the 4th quarter worth approximately $254,000. Heritage Family Offices LLP raised its holdings in Monarch Casino & Resort by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 2,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $665,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort by 108.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 33,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,656,000 after purchasing an additional 17,413 shares during the period. 62.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Monarch Casino & Resort

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc engages in the ownership and operation of the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, a hotel and casino facility in Reno, Nevada, and the Monarch Black Hawk Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Reno, NV.