Raymond James Reaffirms “Market Perform” Rating for Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA)

Raymond James reissued their market perform rating on shares of Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports.

PARA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Paramount Global from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and raised their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Paramount Global from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Paramount Global from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Tuesday. Benchmark dropped their price target on shares of Paramount Global from $30.00 to $19.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson upgraded Paramount Global from a sell rating to a neutral rating and set a $13.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $14.05.

Paramount Global Trading Up 0.6 %

PARA opened at $11.77 on Tuesday. Paramount Global has a 12-month low of $10.16 and a 12-month high of $24.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.68 billion, a PE ratio of -11.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $12.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.04.

Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.09. The business had revenue of $7.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.80 billion. Paramount Global had a negative net margin of 2.05% and a positive return on equity of 1.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Paramount Global will post 1.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paramount Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. Paramount Global’s payout ratio is -19.61%.

Institutional Trading of Paramount Global

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PARA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Paramount Global by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,286,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $862,058,000 after acquiring an additional 626,256 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Paramount Global by 30.4% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 54,882,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,224,418,000 after purchasing an additional 12,783,448 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Paramount Global by 7.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,333,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,459,000 after buying an additional 2,402,874 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Paramount Global by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,832,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,340,000 after buying an additional 1,272,851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Paramount Global by 15.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,299,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,567,000 after buying an additional 1,767,173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.00% of the company’s stock.

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.