Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 30,050,000 shares, a decline of 6.7% from the March 15th total of 32,200,000 shares. Currently, 6.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 15,420,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on HOOD. Citigroup cut Robinhood Markets from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $13.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Robinhood Markets from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Robinhood Markets from $11.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Robinhood Markets from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Robinhood Markets from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.81.

Insider Activity

In other Robinhood Markets news, insider Baiju Bhatt sold 188,077 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.57, for a total value of $2,552,204.89. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $489,130.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Baiju Bhatt sold 188,077 shares of Robinhood Markets stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.57, for a total value of $2,552,204.89. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,045 shares in the company, valued at $489,130.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel Martin Gallagher, Jr. sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.61, for a total value of $132,625.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 738,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,833,267.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,212,150 shares of company stock worth $33,495,819 in the last three months. 20.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Robinhood Markets

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Robinhood Markets by 30.3% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 69,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $938,000 after buying an additional 16,133 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Robinhood Markets during the first quarter worth $199,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Robinhood Markets by 21.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 53,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $727,000 after purchasing an additional 9,661 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Robinhood Markets by 69.0% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 21,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 8,882 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Robinhood Markets by 38.2% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 92,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,248,000 after buying an additional 25,502 shares in the last quarter. 93.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Robinhood Markets Price Performance

Shares of Robinhood Markets stock opened at $17.08 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.58. Robinhood Markets has a fifty-two week low of $7.91 and a fifty-two week high of $20.55. The firm has a market cap of $14.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.47 and a beta of 1.69.

Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $471.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $454.73 million. Robinhood Markets had a negative net margin of 29.01% and a negative return on equity of 7.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.19) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Robinhood Markets will post 0.29 EPS for the current year.

About Robinhood Markets

Robinhood Markets, Inc operates financial services platform in the United States. Its platform allows users to invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), American depository receipts, options, gold, and cryptocurrencies. The company offers fractional trading, recurring investments, fully-paid securities lending, access to investing on margin, cash sweep, instant withdrawals, retirement program, around-the-clock trading, and initial public offerings participation services.