Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) Given Buy Rating at Guggenheim

Guggenheim reissued their buy rating on shares of Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a $14.00 target price on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Paramount Global from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Paramount Global from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 price target (down previously from $13.00) on shares of Paramount Global in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Paramount Global in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Paramount Global from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paramount Global has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.50.

Paramount Global Stock Performance

Shares of PARA stock opened at $12.32 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.33. The company has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 1.19. Paramount Global has a 12-month low of $9.93 and a 12-month high of $12.54.

Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.02. Paramount Global had a positive return on equity of 4.80% and a negative net margin of 19.09%. The firm had revenue of $7.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. Paramount Global’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paramount Global will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

Paramount Global Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Paramount Global’s payout ratio is -2.43%.

Institutional Trading of Paramount Global

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Paramount Global by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,119,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $814,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,078,976 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Paramount Global by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,593,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,413,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119,314 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Paramount Global by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,567,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,731,000 after buying an additional 724,565 shares during the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC boosted its position in Paramount Global by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 14,663,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,384,000 after acquiring an additional 460,539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Paramount Global in the fourth quarter valued at $146,230,000. 73.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Paramount Global

Paramount Global operates as a media, streaming, and entertainment company worldwide. It operates through TV Media, Direct-to-Consumer, and Filmed Entertainment segments. The TV Media segment operates CBS Television Network, a domestic broadcast television network; CBS Stations, a television station; and international free-to-air networks comprising Network 10, Channel 5, Telefe, and Chilevisión; domestic premium and basic cable networks, such as Paramount+ with Showtime, MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, The Smithsonian Channel, Nickelodeon, BET Media Group, and CBS Sports Network; and international extensions of these brands.