Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) Shares Gap Down Following Insider Selling

Shares of Roblox Corporation (NYSE:RBLX) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $57.95, but opened at $54.40. Roblox shares last traded at $54.89, with a volume of 1,633,671 shares trading hands.

Specifically, Director Gregory Baszucki sold 16,666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.69, for a total value of $961,461.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,277,835 shares in the company, valued at $73,718,301.15. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RBLX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upgraded Roblox from an “equal weight” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on Roblox from $140.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Roblox from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Roblox from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Roblox from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.48.

Roblox News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Roblox this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Roblox is facing a securities class action over claims that its Q1 report failed to fully account for the impact of age-check changes on user growth, keeping legal and reputational risk in focus. Roblox Corporation Faces Securities Class Action Amid Surprise Age Verification Impact
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms are reminding investors about the lead-plaintiff deadline, reinforcing headline risk and suggesting the litigation story is still gathering momentum. RBLX Shareholder Action Reminder
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling by Director Gregory Baszucki added to cautious sentiment, even though the sale was made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plan. Insider Selling: Roblox Director Sells 16,666 Shares
• Neutral Sentiment: Roblox also partnered with EDO to add TV-style ad benchmarks to its platform, a longer-term monetization development that could help advertising demand but is not an immediate catalyst. Roblox Partners With EDO To Bring TV Style Ad Benchmarks In Game

Roblox Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $37.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.99 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a fifty day moving average of $47.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.35) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.41) by $0.06. Roblox had a negative return on equity of 277.69% and a negative net margin of 20.69%.The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.32) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 43.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Roblox Corporation will post -1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Roblox announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 19th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 9.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Roblox

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RBLX. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Roblox in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $435,424,000. SRS Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Roblox during the fourth quarter valued at $238,065,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Roblox by 83.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 5,774,151 shares of the company’s stock worth $326,586,000 after purchasing an additional 2,631,074 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Roblox by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 31,953,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,589,282,000 after purchasing an additional 2,184,439 shares during the period. Finally, ValueAct Holdings L.P. grew its stake in shares of Roblox by 39.5% in the fourth quarter. ValueAct Holdings L.P. now owns 5,975,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $484,221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,692,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.46% of the company’s stock.

About Roblox

Roblox Corporation operates Roblox, a user-generated online platform that enables people to create, share and monetize immersive 3D experiences and games. The core offering centers on Roblox Studio, a development environment that allows independent creators and studios to design interactive worlds using the company’s building tools and scripting language. Content on the platform spans games, virtual hangouts, branded experiences and live events, all delivered through a persistent social environment.

Roblox’s business model is built around its virtual economy and creator ecosystem.