Acacia Research (NASDAQ:ACTG) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Acacia Research (NASDAQ:ACTG) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on ACTG. Craig Hallum boosted their target price on Acacia Research from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Acacia Research in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.00.

Acacia Research Stock Up 0.2%

Acacia Research stock opened at $4.88 on Friday. Acacia Research has a 12 month low of $2.70 and a 12 month high of $5.13. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.70. The company has a current ratio of 9.18, a quick ratio of 8.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market cap of $470.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.22 and a beta of 0.52.

Acacia Research (NASDAQ:ACTG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 11th. The business services provider reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14) by $0.17. Acacia Research had a return on equity of 4.11% and a net margin of 7.60%.The firm had revenue of $50.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.00 million.

Institutional Trading of Acacia Research

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. boosted its position in Acacia Research by 195.0% in the third quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 889,547 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,891,000 after purchasing an additional 587,973 shares during the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Acacia Research during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,317,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Acacia Research by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,145,981 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,766,000 after purchasing an additional 355,916 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Acacia Research by 65.4% in the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 441,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,653,000 after purchasing an additional 174,752 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Acacia Research in the second quarter worth approximately $614,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.69% of the company’s stock.

Acacia Research Company Profile

Acacia Research Corporation is a publicly traded patent licensing company based in New York City. The firm specializes in acquiring patented technologies through a network of wholly owned subsidiaries and seeking licensing agreements or settlements with companies that utilize those technologies. Since its founding in 1993, Acacia has built a business model centered on identifying innovative inventions and monetizing them through patent enforcement and strategic partnerships.

The company’s activities span a broad range of technology sectors, including life sciences, medical devices, software, telecommunications and consumer electronics.