TKO Group (NYSE:TKO) Cut to “Hold” at Citigroup

Citigroup cut shares of TKO Group (NYSE:TKO) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. BTIG Research cut their price target on TKO Group from $250.00 to $237.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 target price on shares of TKO Group in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of TKO Group from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Citizens Jmp assumed coverage on shares of TKO Group in a report on Monday, March 30th. They issued a “mkt outperform” rating and a $240.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of TKO Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $232.25.

TKO Group Stock Performance

TKO stock opened at $192.93 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $37.45 billion, a PE ratio of 85.75 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $203.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $199.46. TKO Group has a 1-year low of $141.44 and a 1-year high of $226.94.

TKO Group (NYSE:TKO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. TKO Group had a net margin of 4.13% and a return on equity of 2.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that TKO Group will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

TKO Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were given a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. TKO Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 138.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at TKO Group

In other news, insider Seth D. Krauss sold 14,016 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.22, for a total value of $2,820,299.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 2,271 shares in the company, valued at $456,970.62. This trade represents a 86.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Nick Khan sold 9,518 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.31, for a total transaction of $1,916,068.58. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 119,566 shares in the company, valued at $24,069,831.46. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 84,726 shares of company stock worth $17,262,744. 61.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of TKO Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TKO. State Street Corp grew its stake in TKO Group by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,249,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,060,106,000 after purchasing an additional 887,401 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of TKO Group by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 5,006,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,046,287,000 after purchasing an additional 42,156 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of TKO Group by 54.9% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,185,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $665,826,000 after buying an additional 1,128,749 shares during the last quarter. XN LP grew its position in TKO Group by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. XN LP now owns 2,866,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,191,000 after buying an additional 169,574 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in TKO Group by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,373,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,008,000 after buying an additional 395,040 shares during the period. 89.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About TKO Group

TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO) is a global sports and entertainment company formed in 2023 through the combination of two major combat-sports businesses. The company brings together the mixed martial arts organization UFC and the sports entertainment business WWE under a single publicly traded holding company. TKO owns and manages a portfolio of live-event franchises, intellectual property, and media rights centered on combat and sports-entertainment content.

TKO’s core activities include the promotion and production of live events, the licensing and sale of broadcasting and streaming rights, and the development and commercialization of branded consumer products.