Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRI) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRI) saw a large decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 233,700 shares, a decline of 14.3% from the December 15th total of 272,700 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 100,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCRI has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Monarch Casino & Resort from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Monarch Casino & Resort from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Monarch Casino & Resort from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Monarch Casino & Resort in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $79.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.00.

Monarch Casino & Resort Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:MCRI traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $84.05. 117,655 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 95,715. Monarch Casino & Resort has a fifty-two week low of $64.50 and a fifty-two week high of $89.06. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.37.

Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $137.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $134.50 million. Monarch Casino & Resort had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 16.82%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Monarch Casino & Resort will post 4.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Monarch Casino & Resort

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

Institutional Trading of Monarch Casino & Resort

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Monarch Casino & Resort by 61.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in Monarch Casino & Resort during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $102,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Family Offices LLP acquired a new position in shares of Monarch Casino & Resort in the third quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.37% of the company’s stock.

Monarch Casino & Resort Company Profile

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.