Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV) Receives Buy Rating from Benchmark

Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at Benchmark in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $178.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark’s target price points to a potential upside of 32.20% from the company’s previous close.

LYV has been the topic of a number of other reports. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Live Nation Entertainment from $146.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Live Nation Entertainment from $149.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Live Nation Entertainment from $152.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Live Nation Entertainment from $148.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Macquarie boosted their price target on shares of Live Nation Entertainment from $146.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $160.33.

Live Nation Entertainment Stock Performance

LYV opened at $134.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $31.43 billion, a PE ratio of 49.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.38. Live Nation Entertainment has a 1 year low of $86.81 and a 1 year high of $157.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $129.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.10.

Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.93) by $1.49. Live Nation Entertainment had a net margin of 3.90% and a return on equity of 139.09%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.67 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Live Nation Entertainment will post 2.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Live Nation Entertainment

In related news, CAO Brian Capo sold 5,066 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.24, for a total value of $624,333.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 10,549 shares in the company, valued at $1,300,058.76. This represents a 32.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael Rowles sold 63,136 shares of Live Nation Entertainment stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.40, for a total transaction of $9,811,334.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 195,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,356,768.40. This represents a 24.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 68,702 shares of company stock worth $10,497,143. Insiders own 2.72% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Live Nation Entertainment

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Live Nation Entertainment by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 8,650,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,120,177,000 after acquiring an additional 44,703 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Live Nation Entertainment by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,302,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $945,635,000 after purchasing an additional 105,648 shares in the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of Live Nation Entertainment by 207.6% during the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 4,693,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $607,871,000 after purchasing an additional 3,168,210 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Live Nation Entertainment by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,871,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $500,107,000 after buying an additional 108,293 shares during the period. Finally, Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Live Nation Entertainment by 32.0% in the 4th quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,208,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $415,447,000 after buying an additional 777,105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.52% of the company’s stock.

About Live Nation Entertainment

Live Nation Entertainment, Inc operates as a live entertainment company worldwide. It operates through Concerts, Ticketing, and Sponsorship & Advertising segments. The Concerts segment promotes live music events in its owned or operated venues, and in rented third-party venues. This segment operates and manages music venues; produces music festivals; creates and streams associated content; and offers management and other services to artists.