Cedar Fair (NYSE:FUN) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Cedar Fair (NYSE:FUN) in a research note released on Sunday. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Mizuho started coverage on Cedar Fair in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a buy rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Cedar Fair from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. B. Riley reiterated a buy rating and issued a $52.00 price target (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Cedar Fair in a research report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Cedar Fair from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on Cedar Fair in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. They issued an outperform rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $50.30.

Cedar Fair Price Performance

Cedar Fair stock opened at $38.19 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $41.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.38. Cedar Fair has a one year low of $34.04 and a one year high of $45.39. The firm has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a PE ratio of 15.59 and a beta of 1.41.

Cedar Fair (NYSE:FUN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.08). Cedar Fair had a negative return on equity of 21.06% and a net margin of 6.96%. The business had revenue of $371.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $365.13 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Cedar Fair will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cedar Fair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. Cedar Fair’s payout ratio is 48.98%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cedar Fair by 67.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,305,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,300,000 after purchasing an additional 930,021 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Cedar Fair by 50.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,370,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,439 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel bought a new stake in Cedar Fair during the third quarter worth $2,142,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cedar Fair in the fourth quarter worth $463,000. Finally, Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. increased its position in Cedar Fair by 26.4% in the third quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 171,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,341,000 after buying an additional 35,818 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.65% of the company’s stock.

About Cedar Fair

Cedar Fair, L.P. owns and operates amusement and water parks, as well as complementary resort facilities. Its amusement parks include Cedar Point located on Lake Erie between Cleveland and Toledo in Sandusky, Ohio; Knott's Berry Farm near Los Angeles, California; Canada's Wonderland near Toronto, Ontario; Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio; Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina; Kings Dominion situated near Richmond, Virginia; California's Great America located in Santa Clara, California; Dorney Park in Pennsylvania; Worlds of Fun located in Kansas City, Missouri; Valleyfair situated near Minneapolis/St.