Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) Trading Up 20.1% – Should You Buy?

Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU)’s stock price was up 20.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $148.88 and last traded at $143.66. Approximately 14,896,569 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 374% from the average daily volume of 3,144,115 shares. The stock had previously closed at $119.64.

Key Stories Impacting Roku

Here are the key news stories impacting Roku this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Roku is reportedly in sale talks, including a possible media tie-up, which could signal a strategic transaction or premium valuation if a deal materializes. Roku said to be in sale talks, including likely media tie-up, Bloomberg News reports
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI raised its price target to $185 from $160 and kept a bullish rating, reinforcing optimism around Roku’s monetization efforts in its home screen and advertising-tech initiatives. Roku shares jump as fresh bullish analyst notes extend recent price-target hikes
• Positive Sentiment: Additional recent price-target hikes from firms like Morgan Stanley have added to the bullish analyst narrative, suggesting Wall Street sees more upside in Roku’s ad and platform strategy. Roku shares jump as fresh bullish analyst notes extend recent price-target hikes
• Neutral Sentiment: Several media stories highlighted Roku’s expanding free channels and consumer product discounts, but these appear more promotional than material fundamental catalysts. Roku Quietly Added Four New Free Channels For The Month Of June
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Anthony Wood sold 18,000 shares in a pre-arranged trading plan, which may add some caution, although the sale was not necessarily a bearish signal. Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) CEO Anthony Wood Sells 18,000 Shares

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ROKU shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Roku from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. UBS Group set a $170.00 price target on Roku in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Roku from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Roku in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Roku from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Twenty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $146.96.

Roku Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $118.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.23. The company has a market capitalization of $21.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.02 and a beta of 2.06.

Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Roku had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 7.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.19) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Roku, Inc. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Roku

In related news, CEO Anthony J. Wood sold 75,000 shares of Roku stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.79, for a total transaction of $9,659,250.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Dan Jedda sold 15,000 shares of Roku stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.23, for a total transaction of $1,413,450.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 85,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,020,386.45. This represents a 14.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 721,194 shares of company stock worth $82,169,949. Corporate insiders own 13.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Roku

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ROKU. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Roku by 6.5% in the first quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Roku by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Roku by 1.0% in the third quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 9,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $995,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC increased its holdings in Roku by 2.6% in the first quarter. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC now owns 4,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Roku by 3.7% in the first quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. 86.30% of the stock is currently 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.