Short Interest in Roblox Corporation (NYSE:RBLX) Rises By 68.7%

Roblox Corporation (NYSE:RBLX) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 23,416,828 shares, an increase of 68.7% from the August 15th total of 13,884,449 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 10,912,896 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days. Currently, 3.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Roblox Stock Performance

RBLX stock opened at $47.55 on Friday. Roblox has a twelve month low of $33.88 and a twelve month high of $142.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.82. The company has a market cap of $31.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.25 and a beta of 1.47. The business’s fifty day moving average is $43.79 and its 200-day moving average is $49.54.

Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.60 billion. Roblox had a negative return on equity of 292.85% and a negative net margin of 17.60%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.41) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Roblox will post -1.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Roblox

In other news, CEO David Baszucki sold 52,568 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.96, for a total transaction of $1,995,481.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 799,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,354,562.16. This represents a 6.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Naveen Chopra sold 17,509 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.96, for a total transaction of $664,641.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 363,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,788,932.04. This represents a 4.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 185,236 shares of company stock valued at $7,538,642 in the last three months. 10.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Roblox

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RBLX. Norges Bank bought a new position in Roblox in the fourth quarter valued at $435,424,000. Amundi increased its position in shares of Roblox by 83.7% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 5,774,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $326,586,000 after acquiring an additional 2,631,074 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Roblox by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 31,953,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,589,282,000 after purchasing an additional 2,184,439 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Roblox by 99.5% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,377,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,693,000 after acquiring an additional 1,684,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Roblox by 89.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,893,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,984,000 after purchasing an additional 891,634 shares during the period. 94.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on RBLX. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $58.00 target price on Roblox in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Citigroup decreased their price target on Roblox from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of Roblox in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. BMO Capital Markets cut Roblox from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Roblox from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Roblox presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.36.

Roblox Company Profile

Roblox Corporation develops and operates Roblox, an online platform where users can create, share and play interactive experiences. The platform supports a broad range of user-generated content, including games, social spaces, educational activities and entertainment experiences, and is accessible across computers, mobile devices, consoles and other supported platforms.

Roblox provides development tools through Roblox Studio, while its virtual economy uses Robux, a digital currency that users can purchase and spend on virtual items, avatar customization and other platform content.