Playtika (NASDAQ:PLTK) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Playtika (NASDAQ:PLTK) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on PLTK. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Playtika in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Loop Capital set a $3.75 price objective on shares of Playtika in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Playtika from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Playtika from $5.50 to $4.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.00.

Playtika Price Performance

NASDAQ PLTK opened at $4.06 on Friday. Playtika has a 1 year low of $3.31 and a 1 year high of $7.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of 16.92, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50-day moving average is $4.04 and its 200 day moving average is $4.04.

Playtika (NASDAQ:PLTK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $674.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $669.60 million. Playtika had a negative return on equity of 114.44% and a net margin of 3.16%.Playtika’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Playtika will post 0.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Playtika Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 26th. Playtika’s payout ratio is 166.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Playtika by 65.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,331,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,630,000 after purchasing an additional 2,511,228 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Playtika by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,972,998 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,455,000 after purchasing an additional 679,564 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Playtika by 19.1% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,708,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,541,000 after buying an additional 595,494 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Playtika by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,191,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,416,000 after buying an additional 432,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Playtika by 27.4% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,971,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,311,000 after buying an additional 423,779 shares during the last quarter. 11.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Playtika

Playtika Ltd. (NASDAQ: PLTK) is a leading developer and publisher of free-to-play mobile and social games. Established in 2010 and headquartered in Herzliya, Israel, the company has built a reputation for creating engaging, social casino and casual gaming experiences. Playtika’s platform leverages data-driven analytics and in-game community features to drive player retention and monetization across multiple titles.

The company’s diverse portfolio includes flagship social casino games such as Slotomania, Bingo Blitz and Caesars Casino, as well as skill-based and casual offerings like World Series of Poker and House of Fun.