Macquarie Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Sphere Entertainment (NYSE:SPHR)

Sphere Entertainment (NYSE:SPHR)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by stock analysts at Macquarie in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $47.00 price objective on the stock. Macquarie’s price target indicates a potential upside of 6.75% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on SPHR. Guggenheim upped their price target on Sphere Entertainment from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Sphere Entertainment from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Sphere Entertainment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $37.00 to $57.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. Benchmark reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Sphere Entertainment in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Sphere Entertainment from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sphere Entertainment currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.71.

Sphere Entertainment Price Performance

Sphere Entertainment stock opened at $44.03 on Wednesday. Sphere Entertainment has a 1 year low of $27.02 and a 1 year high of $51.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $44.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.21. The company has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 1.41.

Sphere Entertainment (NYSE:SPHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported ($2.00) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.47) by $0.47. The company had revenue of $273.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $271.28 million. Sphere Entertainment had a negative net margin of 19.54% and a negative return on equity of 9.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 111.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $15.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Sphere Entertainment will post -9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sphere Entertainment

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPHR. Ariel Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Sphere Entertainment by 8.2% during the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 5,538,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,167,000 after acquiring an additional 419,581 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Sphere Entertainment by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,807,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,787,000 after purchasing an additional 17,613 shares during the last quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Sphere Entertainment by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,542,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,804,000 after purchasing an additional 106,651 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in shares of Sphere Entertainment by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 960,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,145,000 after purchasing an additional 69,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sphere Entertainment by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 673,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,071,000 after buying an additional 3,956 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.03% of the company’s stock.

Sphere Entertainment Company Profile

Sphere Entertainment Co engages in the entertainment business. It produces, presents, or hosts various live entertainment events, including concerts, family shows, and special events, as well as sporting events, such as professional boxing, college basketball and hockey, professional bull riding, mixed martial arts, and esports and wrestling in its venues, including The Garden, Hulu Theater, Radio City Music Hall, and the Beacon Theatre in New York City; and The Chicago Theatre.