Investors Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR)

Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders acquired 42,991 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 203% compared to the average daily volume of 14,178 put options.

Institutional Trading of Caesars Entertainment

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CZR. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Caesars Entertainment by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,454,520 shares of the company's stock valued at $60,712,000 after buying an additional 59,170 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Caesars Entertainment by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 20,214 shares of the company's stock worth $844,000 after acquiring an additional 1,807 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Caesars Entertainment in the 3rd quarter worth about $262,000. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Caesars Entertainment by 59.7% in the 3rd quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 41,816 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,745,000 after buying an additional 15,629 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in Caesars Entertainment by 163.7% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 26,013 shares of the company's stock worth $1,086,000 after acquiring an additional 16,150 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.79% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CZR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Caesars Entertainment from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Caesars Entertainment from $52.00 to $43.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Caesars Entertainment from $58.00 to $53.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Caesars Entertainment from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $52.43.

Caesars Entertainment Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:CZR traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $32.51. 4,113,929 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,395,915. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.38. Caesars Entertainment has a one year low of $31.74 and a one year high of $47.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.47 and a beta of 2.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.84.

Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.25). Caesars Entertainment had a negative return on equity of 4.44% and a negative net margin of 3.20%. The firm had revenue of $2.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Caesars Entertainment will post -0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Caesars Entertainment Company Profile

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.