Spotify Technology $SPOT Shares Purchased by Bessemer Group Inc.

Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 729,392 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,753 shares during the quarter. Spotify Technology comprises approximately 0.7% of Bessemer Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Spotify Technology were worth $423,564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Spotify Technology by 1.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,622,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,226,364,000 after purchasing an additional 48,070 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Spotify Technology by 40.7% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,730,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,906,260,000 after purchasing an additional 789,755 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Spotify Technology by 4.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,602,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,816,632,000 after purchasing an additional 113,612 shares during the period. Coatue Management LLC lifted its position in Spotify Technology by 13.3% in the third quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 1,803,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,258,615,000 after purchasing an additional 212,006 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its position in Spotify Technology by 37.9% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,616,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $938,614,000 after purchasing an additional 444,162 shares during the period. 84.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Alex Norstrom sold 5,436 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.51, for a total value of $2,606,616.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 69,989 shares in the company, valued at $33,560,425.39. This represents a 7.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Gustav Soderstrom sold 20,833 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.72, for a total value of $8,973,189.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 20,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,826,314.24. The trade was a 50.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 47,102 shares of company stock valued at $21,444,648 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Spotify Technology Stock Up 0.4%

SPOT opened at $432.47 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $489.44 and a 200-day moving average of $531.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.46, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.55. Spotify Technology has a 12-month low of $405.00 and a 12-month high of $785.00.

Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $4.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.41 by $0.63. The company had revenue of $5.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.23 billion. Spotify Technology had a return on equity of 35.73% and a net margin of 15.56%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.07 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Spotify Technology will post 14.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SPOT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Spotify Technology from $670.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup upgraded Spotify Technology from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Spotify Technology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Barclays cut their price objective on Spotify Technology from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Spotify Technology from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.77.

More Spotify Technology News

Here are the key news stories impacting Spotify Technology this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Spotify said it will adopt Apple’s HLS video streaming technology for podcasts, allowing Spotify-hosted video shows to be distributed and monetized on Apple Podcasts with less friction for creators. That could broaden reach, improve creator tools, and make Spotify’s podcast ecosystem more attractive. TechCrunch article
• Positive Sentiment: The cross-platform video podcast move may help Spotify strengthen engagement and monetize more content across both Spotify and Apple Podcasts, supporting its long-term platform strategy. 9to5Mac article
• Neutral Sentiment: Spotify also cut subscription prices in India and discontinued Premium Lite there, a sign of aggressive international pricing that could help user growth but may pressure near-term revenue per user. Moneycontrol article
• Negative Sentiment: Investor sentiment may also be weighed by the recent Q1 disappointment, with weaker-than-expected premium subscriber additions and advertising revenue, plus a securities investigation tied to those results. Yahoo Finance article

About Spotify Technology

Spotify Technology is a digital audio streaming company best known for its on-demand music service and a growing portfolio of spoken-word content. Founded in Sweden in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon and launched commercially in 2008, the company offers a cross-platform app that enables users to discover, stream and organize music, podcasts and other audio. Its primary consumer products include a free, ad-supported tier and a paid Spotify Premium subscription that provides ad-free listening, offline playback and higher-quality audio streams.