iHeartMedia (NASDAQ:IHRT) CEO Robert Pittman Buys 32,468 Shares

iHeartMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:IHRT) CEO Robert Pittman acquired 32,468 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $3.25 per share, for a total transaction of $105,521.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 6,214,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,198,545.25. This trade represents a 0.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

iHeartMedia Price Performance

Shares of iHeartMedia stock traded up $0.15 on Thursday, reaching $3.23. The company had a trading volume of 1,115,184 shares, compared to its average volume of 675,341. The firm has a market cap of $485.02 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $3.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.40. iHeartMedia, Inc. has a 1 year low of $0.95 and a 1 year high of $5.44.

iHeartMedia (NASDAQ:IHRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.06). iHeartMedia had a negative return on equity of 1.63% and a negative net margin of 12.24%.The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that iHeartMedia, Inc. will post -0.13 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on IHRT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded iHeartMedia from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $4.00 to $3.50 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of iHeartMedia in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of iHeartMedia from $3.00 to $5.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $4.33.

Institutional Trading of iHeartMedia

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Global Media & Entertainment Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in iHeartMedia during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $52,061,800,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in iHeartMedia by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,022,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,154,000 after purchasing an additional 93,757 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in iHeartMedia by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,713,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,929,000 after purchasing an additional 741,736 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in iHeartMedia by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,774,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,701,000 after purchasing an additional 380,557 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of iHeartMedia by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,307,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,815,000 after buying an additional 85,957 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.89% of the company’s stock.

About iHeartMedia

iHeartMedia, Inc (NASDAQ: IHRT) is a leading media and entertainment company specializing in radio broadcasting, digital streaming and live events. The company operates more than 860 full-power AM and FM radio stations across the United States, delivering music, news, sports and talk programming to local markets. Through its flagship digital platform, iHeartRadio, the company provides listeners with free and subscription-based access to thousands of live radio stations, curated music playlists and on-demand podcasts.

Originally founded in 1972 as Clear Channel Communications, the business rebranded to iHeartMedia in 2014 to reflect the growing importance of its digital and event-driven offerings.