Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Reduces Position in AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ:AMCX)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ:AMCX) by 40.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 583,237 shares of the company’s stock after selling 395,903 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in AMC Networks were worth $5,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in AMC Networks by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 23,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 2,043 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AMC Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $414,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of AMC Networks by 163.9% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 89,474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $778,000 after buying an additional 55,565 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of AMC Networks by 73.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 374,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,252,000 after buying an additional 158,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of AMC Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $134,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.51% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMC Networks news, insider F. Dolan 2009 Revocabl Charles sold 154,345 shares of AMC Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.95, for a total transaction of $1,072,697.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $144,789.35. The trade was a 88.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 25.87% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMCX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of AMC Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on AMC Networks from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on AMC Networks from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.00.

AMC Networks Stock Performance

Shares of AMCX stock opened at $6.84 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $301.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.30 and a beta of 1.33. AMC Networks Inc. has a one year low of $6.59 and a one year high of $18.58. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.66.

AMC Networks (NASDAQ:AMCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.41). The firm had revenue of $599.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $611.26 million. AMC Networks had a positive return on equity of 18.61% and a negative net margin of 9.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AMC Networks Inc. will post 2.62 EPS for the current year.

About AMC Networks

AMC Networks Inc, an entertainment company, owns and operates a suite of video entertainment products that are delivered to audiences, a platform to distributors, and advertisers in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Domestic Operations, and International and Other segments.