Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $53.00 to $56.00. The stock had previously closed at $36.90, but opened at $39.67. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Caesars Entertainment shares last traded at $40.38, with a volume of 1,951,011 shares traded.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on CZR. Susquehanna downgraded Caesars Entertainment from a “neutral” rating to a “negative” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Barclays cut their target price on Caesars Entertainment from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Caesars Entertainment has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Caesars Entertainment news, Director Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.52, for a total value of $325,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 350 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,382. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr. sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.52, for a total value of $325,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 350 shares in the company, valued at $11,382. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael E. Pegram acquired 40,000 shares of Caesars Entertainment stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $36.39 per share, for a total transaction of $1,455,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 181,697 shares in the company, valued at $6,611,953.83. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Caesars Entertainment

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CZR. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Caesars Entertainment by 525.3% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Caesars Entertainment during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Caesars Entertainment in the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Caesars Entertainment during the 1st quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Caesars Entertainment by 22,920.0% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 1,146 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.79% of the company’s stock.

Caesars Entertainment Stock Up 8.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.32 and a beta of 2.98. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.67 and a 200-day moving average of $39.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.55) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by ($0.52). Caesars Entertainment had a net margin of 6.68% and a return on equity of 1.27%. The firm had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Caesars Entertainment, Inc. will post -0.13 EPS for the current year.

About Caesars Entertainment

Caesars Entertainment, Inc operates as a gaming and hospitality company. The company owns, leases, or manages domestic properties in 18 states with slot machines, video lottery terminals and e-tables, and hotel rooms, as well as table games, including poker. It also operates and conducts retail and online sports wagering across 31 jurisdictions in North America and operates iGaming in five jurisdictions in North America; sports betting from our retail and online sportsbooks; and other games, such as keno.