Investors Buy Large Volume of PENN Entertainment Call Options (NASDAQ:PENN)

PENN Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PENN) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 25,071 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 39% compared to the average daily volume of 17,984 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PENN. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of PENN Entertainment by 201.5% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in PENN Entertainment during the 3rd quarter worth $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of PENN Entertainment by 88.5% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PENN Entertainment in the third quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PENN Entertainment during the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. 91.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PENN Entertainment Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ PENN traded up $0.76 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $20.94. The company had a trading volume of 2,726,421 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,365,732. PENN Entertainment has a one year low of $13.50 and a one year high of $23.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $19.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a PE ratio of -5.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 2.09.

PENN Entertainment (NASDAQ:PENN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.04. PENN Entertainment had a negative return on equity of 14.44% and a negative net margin of 8.51%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that PENN Entertainment will post -1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on PENN shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of PENN Entertainment in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of PENN Entertainment from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Craig Hallum reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of PENN Entertainment in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of PENN Entertainment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $27.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of PENN Entertainment from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.44.

About PENN Entertainment

PENN Entertainment, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated entertainment, sports content, and casino gaming experiences. The company operates through five segments: Northeast, South, West, Midwest, and Interactive. It operates online sports betting in various jurisdictions; and iCasino under Hollywood Casino, L'Auberge, ESPN BET, and theScore Bet Sportsbook and Casino brands.