Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $128.53 and last traded at $127.98, with a volume of 2499993 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $124.41.

Roku News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Roku this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Roku said CFO and COO Dan Jedda will speak at two upcoming industry conferences on May 12 and May 13, which can help keep investor attention on the company and give management a platform to discuss strategy and growth. Roku Chief Financial Officer to Present at Upcoming Conferences
• Neutral Sentiment: Several insider sale reports were published this week, including stock sales by a director and other executives, but these filings are routine disclosures and do not necessarily signal a change in business fundamentals. Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Director Sells $244,220.00 in Stock
• Negative Sentiment: News reports alleged that Roku and TCL software updates have “bricked” some TVs, which could raise concerns about product quality, customer trust, and potential legal or repair costs if the claims gain traction. Lawsuit accuses Roku, TCL of ‘bricking’ TVs with defective software updates

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on ROKU shares. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Roku from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Roku from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Roku from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Citizens Jmp upped their target price on shares of Roku from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 target price on shares of Roku in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $142.17.

Roku Trading Up 2.3%

The firm has a market cap of $19.10 billion, a PE ratio of 97.39 and a beta of 2.04. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $102.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.52.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Roku had a return on equity of 7.64% and a net margin of 4.06%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.19) earnings per share. Analysts expect that Roku, Inc. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Roku

In other Roku news, insider Gilbert Fuchsberg sold 9,593 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.52, for a total transaction of $1,204,113.36. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 50,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,384,323.76. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Neil D. Hunt sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.11, for a total transaction of $244,220.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,782 shares in the company, valued at $950,260.02. This trade represents a 20.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 663,038 shares of company stock valued at $70,956,545. 13.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Roku

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Roku by 18.0% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $507,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Roku by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC now owns 47,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,531,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Roku by 3.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 750,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,980,000 after purchasing an additional 22,657 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Roku by 27.8% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Roku by 0.8% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 258,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,488,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. 86.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.