Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 47,700 Shares of Golden Entertainment, Inc. $GDEN

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Golden Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:GDEN) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,442,319 shares of the company’s stock after selling 47,700 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 5.46% of Golden Entertainment worth $38,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GDEN. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in Golden Entertainment by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 12,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 2,331 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Golden Entertainment in the fourth quarter worth approximately $729,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Golden Entertainment by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 51,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 2,172 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Golden Entertainment by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 228,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,217,000 after purchasing an additional 4,690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in Golden Entertainment by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 70,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,226,000 after purchasing an additional 6,999 shares in the last quarter. 70.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Golden Entertainment Stock Down 1.8%

GDEN stock opened at $25.08 on Wednesday. Golden Entertainment, Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.66 and a twelve month high of $35.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $28.31 and its 200-day moving average is $28.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $656.09 million, a PE ratio of 46.45 and a beta of 1.83.

Golden Entertainment (NASDAQ:GDEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $163.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $169.70 million. Golden Entertainment had a return on equity of 3.23% and a net margin of 2.35%. Sell-side analysts expect that Golden Entertainment, Inc. will post 0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Golden Entertainment Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 25th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 25th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Golden Entertainment’s payout ratio is 185.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. JMP Securities reduced their price objective on Golden Entertainment from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Wall Street Zen raised Golden Entertainment from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Golden Entertainment from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Golden Entertainment in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Macquarie reduced their price objective on Golden Entertainment from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Golden Entertainment has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.33.

Golden Entertainment Company Profile

Golden Entertainment, Inc owns and operates a diversified entertainment platform in the United States. The company operates through four segments; Nevada Casino Resorts, Nevada Locals Casinos, Nevada Taverns, and Distributed Gaming. It also operates casino, casino resorts, and taverns; and slot machines in third party non-casino locations.