Thompson Investment Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)

Thompson Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 76,074 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Activision Blizzard were worth $6,413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in Activision Blizzard by 186.4% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 338 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Activision Blizzard by 140.4% during the 1st quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 351 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Activision Blizzard during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Activision Blizzard in the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Activision Blizzard in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ATVI shares. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Activision Blizzard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $84.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Activision Blizzard from $95.00 to $95.99 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Activision Blizzard from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 13th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Activision Blizzard to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Activision Blizzard from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $95.00 to $96.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.37.

Activision Blizzard Trading Down 0.4 %

ATVI traded down $0.40 on Friday, reaching $91.82. 13,510,743 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,357,733. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 4.66 and a current ratio of 4.66. The company’s 50 day moving average is $91.34 and its 200-day moving average is $84.47. Activision Blizzard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.94 and a twelve month high of $93.67. The company has a market cap of $72.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.63, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.44.

Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 19th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.17. Activision Blizzard had a return on equity of 14.87% and a net margin of 24.87%. The business had revenue of $2.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.44 billion. Equities analysts predict that Activision Blizzard, Inc. will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Activision Blizzard Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a yield of 1.07%. This is a positive change from Activision Blizzard’s previous annual dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 1st. Activision Blizzard’s payout ratio is presently 36.26%.

Activision Blizzard Company Profile

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.