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

PENN Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PENN) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 39,391 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 137% compared to the typical daily volume of 16,588 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PENN. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in PENN Entertainment during the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of PENN Entertainment by 88.5% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PENN Entertainment during the third quarter worth about $56,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PENN Entertainment by 1,634.8% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 3,057 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in PENN Entertainment during the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. 91.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PENN Entertainment Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of PENN traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $20.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,027,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,347,687. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a PE ratio of -5.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 2.08. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $19.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.34. PENN Entertainment has a 52 week low of $13.50 and a 52 week high of $24.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34.

PENN Entertainment (NASDAQ:PENN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. PENN Entertainment had a negative return on equity of 14.44% and a negative net margin of 8.51%. PENN Entertainment’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.21 EPS. On average, analysts predict that PENN Entertainment will post -1.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on PENN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of PENN Entertainment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $27.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of PENN Entertainment in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com lowered PENN Entertainment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of PENN Entertainment from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective 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. One 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.44.

PENN Entertainment Company Profile

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.