Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI)

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI – Get Rating) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 61,007 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 58% compared to the typical daily volume of 38,509 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Edward Jones upgraded Activision Blizzard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 6th. MKM Partners raised Activision Blizzard from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley raised Activision Blizzard from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Activision Blizzard from $84.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 16th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Activision Blizzard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.85.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Activision Blizzard

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Activision Blizzard by 434.3% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 138,368 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,592,000 after purchasing an additional 112,470 shares during the period. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Activision Blizzard during the 4th quarter worth $1,160,000. Bray Capital Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Activision Blizzard by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Bray Capital Advisors now owns 17,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,375,000 after purchasing an additional 3,360 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Activision Blizzard by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 3,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Activision Blizzard during the 4th quarter worth $399,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.34% of the company’s stock.

Activision Blizzard Price Performance

ATVI stock opened at $73.84 on Friday. Activision Blizzard has a 1 year low of $70.94 and a 1 year high of $82.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 5.76 and a current ratio of 5.76. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $75.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.28. The firm has a market cap of $57.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.67, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.47.

Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 7th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.16. Activision Blizzard had a return on equity of 9.64% and a net margin of 22.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Activision Blizzard will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Activision Blizzard Company Profile

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Activision Blizzard, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops and publishes interactive entertainment content and services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through three segments: Activision, Blizzard, and King. It develops and distributes content and services on video game consoles, personal computers, and mobile devices, including subscription, full-game, and in-game sales, as well as by licensing software to third-party or related-party companies that distribute Activision and Blizzard products.