DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ:DKNG) Short Interest Up 16.5% in March

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ:DKNG) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 20,370,000 shares, a growth of 16.5% from the March 15th total of 17,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 12,180,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at DraftKings

In other news, insider R Stanton Dodge sold 686,101 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.06, for a total value of $29,543,509.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 200,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,622,291.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jason Robins sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.89, for a total transaction of $8,178,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,195,812 shares in the company, valued at $130,676,752.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider R Stanton Dodge sold 686,101 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.06, for a total value of $29,543,509.06. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 200,239 shares in the company, valued at $8,622,291.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,596,101 shares of company stock worth $65,685,509. Insiders own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DraftKings

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in DraftKings by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,263,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,384,053,000 after buying an additional 2,225,759 shares during the last quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of DraftKings in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $215,687,000. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of DraftKings by 39.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 7,153,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,022,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of DraftKings by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,962,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,425,000 after purchasing an additional 184,476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of DraftKings during the 4th quarter valued at $192,140,000. Institutional investors own 37.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on DKNG shares. Susquehanna raised their price objective on DraftKings from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Bank Of America (Bofa) increased their price objective on shares of DraftKings from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. BNP Paribas downgraded DraftKings from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on DraftKings from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target (up from $45.00) on shares of DraftKings in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and twenty-five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, DraftKings currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.93.

DraftKings Price Performance

DKNG traded up $1.22 on Tuesday, reaching $44.94. The company had a trading volume of 10,563,044 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,856,720. DraftKings has a 52-week low of $19.10 and a 52-week high of $49.57. The company has a market cap of $38.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.68 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.78.

DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.16). DraftKings had a negative return on equity of 87.24% and a negative net margin of 21.88%. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.53) EPS. DraftKings’s quarterly revenue was up 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that DraftKings will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

About DraftKings

DraftKings Inc operates as a digital sports entertainment and gaming company in the United States and internationally. It provides online sports betting and casino, daily fantasy sports, media, and other consumer products, as well as retails sportsbooks. The company also engages in the design and development of sports betting and casino gaming software for online and retail sportsbooks, and iGaming operators.