SEA (NYSE:SE) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

SEA (NYSE:SE) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on SE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of SEA from $173.00 to $149.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Zacks Research upgraded SEA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. New Street Research cut SEA from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of SEA in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded SEA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $152.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.91.

SEA Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of SEA stock opened at $75.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.14 billion, a PE ratio of 29.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $98.22 and its 200 day moving average is $98.75. SEA has a 1 year low of $71.53 and a 1 year high of $159.80.

SEA (NYSE:SE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 11th. The Internet company based in Singapore reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $7.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.12 billion. SEA had a return on equity of 13.54% and a net margin of 5.98%. SEA’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that SEA will post 2.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at SEA

In related news, CFO Tianyu Hou sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.03, for a total value of $890,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,116,050. This represents a 22.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Yanjun Wang sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.58, for a total value of $59,664.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 69,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,189,276.40. This represents a 1.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,016,986 shares of company stock worth $246,202,085. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SEA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SE. Carrhae Capital LLP bought a new stake in SEA during the second quarter valued at $140,501,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in SEA during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,527,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of SEA by 80.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 563,692 shares of the Internet company based in Singapore’s stock worth $54,881,000 after acquiring an additional 251,517 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new position in shares of SEA in the 2nd quarter worth about $12,410,000. Finally, Trek Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of SEA in the 3rd quarter worth about $11,844,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.53% of the company’s stock.

About SEA

Sea Limited is a Singapore-based global technology company founded in 2009. Formerly known as Garena, the company operates digital businesses serving consumers and merchants primarily in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and selected markets in Latin America and other regions.

Through Shopee, Sea’s e-commerce platform, the company provides online marketplaces that connect buyers and sellers and offer supporting services such as payments, logistics and merchant tools. Garena, its digital entertainment business, develops and publishes online games and distributes third-party titles, while also operating digital entertainment platforms and services.

SeaMoney is the company’s digital financial services division.