Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Monarch Casino & Resort from $73.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Monarch Casino & Resort in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $79.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial upgraded Monarch Casino & Resort from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $100.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Monarch Casino & Resort from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $87.20.

Monarch Casino & Resort Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MCRI traded up $0.31 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $94.47. The stock had a trading volume of 145,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 76,687. Monarch Casino & Resort has a 52 week low of $64.50 and a 52 week high of $96.11. The firm's fifty day moving average is $83.07 and its 200 day moving average is $79.71. The stock has a market cap of $1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90 and a beta of 1.74.

Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.23. Monarch Casino & Resort had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 16.82%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Monarch Casino & Resort will post 4.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monarch Casino & Resort Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 15th. Investors of record on Saturday, March 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Monarch Casino & Resort's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Monarch Casino & Resort news, CEO John Farahi sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.70, for a total transaction of $77,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 528,436 shares in the company, valued at $41,059,477.20. This represents a 0.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 24.94% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Monarch Casino & Resort

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MCRI. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort in the fourth quarter worth about $590,000. AdvisorShares Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort by 85.0% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 12,060 shares of the company's stock valued at $952,000 after purchasing an additional 5,540 shares in the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Monarch Casino & Resort by 32.6% in the 4th quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 3,535 shares of the company's stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 869 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 133,734 shares of the company's stock worth $10,552,000 after purchasing an additional 10,697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Monarch Casino & Resort by 128.4% during the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 38,057 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,003,000 after purchasing an additional 21,391 shares during the period. 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.