DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ:DKNG) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ:DKNG) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 25,800,000 shares, a growth of 10.0% from the August 31st total of 23,450,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 9,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DKNG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Benchmark lifted their price target on DraftKings from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of DraftKings from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of DraftKings in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Barclays lowered their price objective on DraftKings from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Macquarie reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of DraftKings in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.74.

Insider Transactions at DraftKings

In related news, insider Paul Liberman sold 643,654 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.24, for a total transaction of $26,544,290.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 137,308 shares in the company, valued at $5,662,581.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other DraftKings news, insider Paul Liberman sold 643,654 shares of DraftKings stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.24, for a total value of $26,544,290.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 137,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,662,581.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jason Robins sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.72, for a total value of $6,144,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,699,815 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,938,316.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,195,301 shares of company stock worth $45,355,362. Company insiders own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of DraftKings

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DKNG. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in DraftKings by 53.3% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 9,410,431 shares of the company’s stock worth $359,196,000 after buying an additional 3,269,932 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in DraftKings by 148.2% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,235,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,284,000 after purchasing an additional 2,528,503 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in DraftKings in the 4th quarter valued at about $87,829,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in DraftKings by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,263,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,384,053,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225,759 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in DraftKings by 1,048.1% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,888,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,747,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723,819 shares during the last quarter. 37.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

DraftKings Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of DKNG traded down $0.95 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $38.25. The stock had a trading volume of 9,510,347 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,627,246. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.34. DraftKings has a 12-month low of $25.73 and a 12-month high of $49.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $33.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.22 and a beta of 1.80.

DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.13. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. DraftKings had a negative net margin of 9.45% and a negative return on equity of 43.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.17) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that DraftKings will post -0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

DraftKings Company Profile

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.