Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI) Downgraded to Buy Rating by StockNews.com

Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on MCRI. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Monarch Casino & Resort in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $79.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial raised Monarch Casino & Resort from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Monarch Casino & Resort from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Monarch Casino & Resort from $73.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.00.

Monarch Casino & Resort Price Performance

NASDAQ:MCRI opened at $83.87 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $82.27 and its 200-day moving average is $77.85. Monarch Casino & Resort has a 12 month low of $64.50 and a 12 month high of $89.06. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56 and a beta of 1.73.

Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $137.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $134.50 million. Monarch Casino & Resort had a net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 17.06%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. Research analysts predict that Monarch Casino & Resort will post 4.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO John Farahi sold 1,000 shares of Monarch Casino & Resort stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.70, for a total transaction of $77,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 528,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,059,477.20. The trade was a 0.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 24.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCRI. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 175,378 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,949,000 after buying an additional 9,990 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Monarch Casino & Resort by 11.7% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 110,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,501,000 after acquiring an additional 11,500 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort during the second quarter valued at $102,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 19,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,342,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 28,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.37% of the company’s stock.

About Monarch Casino & Resort

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc engages in the ownership and operation of the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, a hotel and casino facility in Reno, Nevada, and the Monarch Black Hawk Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Reno, NV.