Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases New Position in Caesars Entertainment, Inc. $CZR

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 90,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,392,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Caesars Entertainment in the 1st quarter worth approximately $295,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Caesars Entertainment by 33.2% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,359,946 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,233,000 after acquiring an additional 1,085,516 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in Caesars Entertainment by 1,704,257.7% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 443,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,712,000 after acquiring an additional 443,107 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Caesars Entertainment by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 995,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,278,000 after acquiring an additional 112,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in Caesars Entertainment during the 4th quarter valued at $1,696,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Caesars Entertainment news, insider Edmund L. Quatmann, Jr. sold 81,566 shares of Caesars Entertainment stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.35, for a total transaction of $2,393,962.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 18,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $536,019.05. The trade was a 81.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael E. Pegram sold 55,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.20, for a total value of $1,606,000.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 293,463 shares of company stock valued at $8,609,241. 1.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CZR has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (down from $35.00) on shares of Caesars Entertainment in a report on Monday, June 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Caesars Entertainment from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Caesars Entertainment from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded Caesars Entertainment from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Caesars Entertainment presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.53.

Caesars Entertainment Price Performance

Shares of CZR opened at $29.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a PE ratio of -12.58 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.85. Caesars Entertainment, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.86 and a fifty-two week high of $31.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.69.

Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported ($0.48) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by ($0.24). Caesars Entertainment had a negative net margin of 4.19% and a negative return on equity of 7.88%. The business had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.54) earnings per share. Caesars Entertainment’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Caesars Entertainment, Inc. will post -0.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Caesars Entertainment

Caesars Entertainment Corporation is a leading integrated gaming and hospitality company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company owns and operates a global portfolio of resorts, casinos, and entertainment venues designed to deliver comprehensive hospitality experiences. Its business activities span hotel accommodations, gaming operations, food and beverage services, live events, and convention services, with a focus on delivering luxury and entertainment to both leisure and business travelers.

The company traces its lineage to the founding of Harrah’s by William F.