Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Trading Down 1.3% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU) fell 1.3% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $108.40 and last traded at $108.86. 3,260,576 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 15% from the average session volume of 2,842,072 shares. The stock had previously closed at $110.30.

Roku News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Roku this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Roku’s new $2.99–$3/month ad‑free streaming channel “Howdy” is being positioned to run on non‑Roku devices, expanding potential subscription reach and recurring revenue beyond Roku’s hardware ecosystem. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street conviction rose: Evercore upgraded ROKU to Outperform (Barron’s coverage) and Arete raised its rating to Buy with a $132 target — analyst upgrades give the stock fresh institutional buy interest and headline support. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional flows and hedge‑fund buying reported in recent quarters (AQR, Acadian, Holocene, etc.) suggest meaningful ownership accumulation that can cushion volatility and support longer‑term valuation.
• Positive Sentiment: Ad‑tech and measurement improvements (e.g., third‑party outcomes metrics) and technical indicators (recent momentum signals noted by analysts) bolster the ad‑revenue story and can attract technical buyers.
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Anthony Wood discussed the $3 ad‑free offering and floated a long‑range view that AI‑generated content could produce a hit movie within a few years — strategic vision that could be material long‑term but is speculative near term. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Various product/UX items and third‑party app updates (e.g., KREX+ livestream availability, display‑resolution help) affect user experience but are unlikely to move the stock materially unless they change engagement trends at scale. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: filings show Director Neil D. Hunt and CAO Matthew Banks sold shares in early January — visible insider sales are often read as a negative signal by traders and can prompt short‑term selling pressure. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: despite upgrades and product news, the stock traded lower amid mixed sentiment — investors appear weighing near‑term ad‑revenue visibility and execution risks against the strategic positives. Read More.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ROKU has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Roku from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Roku in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Roku in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Roku from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 7th. Finally, Arete upgraded shares of Roku from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $132.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Roku has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.12.

Roku Stock Down 1.3%

The company has a market cap of $16.08 billion, a PE ratio of -544.27 and a beta of 1.95. The company’s fifty day moving average is $103.86 and its 200-day moving average is $96.88.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. Roku had a negative return on equity of 1.08% and a negative net margin of 0.61%.The company’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.06) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Roku, Inc. will post -0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Roku news, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.86, for a total transaction of $5,193,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Gilbert Fuchsberg sold 3,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.78, for a total transaction of $353,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 59,094 shares in the company, valued at $6,428,245.32. This trade represents a 5.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 343,282 shares of company stock valued at $36,686,139. Insiders own 13.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Roku by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,998,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,301,557,000 after purchasing an additional 322,858 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Roku by 41.2% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,691,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,545,000 after purchasing an additional 785,864 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Roku by 275.5% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,586,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $258,897,000 after purchasing an additional 1,897,407 shares during the period. Tableaux LLC purchased a new stake in Roku in the second quarter worth about $1,746,000. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Roku by 352.3% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,650,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,259,000 after buying an additional 1,285,585 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.30% of the company’s stock.

Roku Company Profile

Roku, Inc (NASDAQ: ROKU) is a technology company that develops and operates a proprietary streaming platform designed to deliver entertainment content to consumers via internet-connected devices and smart televisions. Since its inception in 2002 in California, Roku has focused on simplifying access to streaming services for viewers worldwide. The company’s platform enables users to discover, access and manage a wide array of over-the-top content from major streaming services, free ad-supported channels and niche providers.

At the core of Roku’s product lineup are a range of streaming players and sticks, which connect to televisions via HDMI and deliver the Roku OS experience.