iHeartMedia (NASDAQ:IHRT) Trading 8.5% Higher – Time to Buy?

iHeartMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:IHRT) traded up 8.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $3.65 and last traded at $3.6250. 627,324 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 5% from the average session volume of 600,293 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.34.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

iHeartMedia Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $539.07 million, a PE ratio of -1.39, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $3.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.24.

iHeartMedia (NASDAQ:IHRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.64. The company had revenue of $997.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. iHeartMedia had a negative net margin of 10.37% and a negative return on equity of 1.63%. On average, equities analysts predict that iHeartMedia, Inc. will post -0.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of iHeartMedia

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in iHeartMedia by 99.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,214,301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,976 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in iHeartMedia by 22.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,872,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,739,000 after purchasing an additional 532,414 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of iHeartMedia during the first quarter valued at approximately $186,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of iHeartMedia by 2.7% during the second 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. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of iHeartMedia by 7.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,822,306 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,968,000 after buying an additional 186,402 shares during the period. 93.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.