Insider Buying: iHeartMedia (NASDAQ:IHRT) CEO Purchases $105,521.00 in Stock

iHeartMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:IHRT) CEO Robert Pittman purchased 32,468 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $3.25 per share, for a total transaction of $105,521.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 6,214,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,198,545.25. This represents a 0.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

iHeartMedia Stock Performance

Shares of IHRT stock opened at $3.24 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $3.57 and a 200-day moving average of $3.42. The stock has a market cap of $486.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.06, a P/E/G ratio of 31.06 and a beta of 1.70. iHeartMedia, Inc. has a 52-week low of $0.95 and a 52-week high of $5.44.

iHeartMedia (NASDAQ:IHRT) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. iHeartMedia had a negative net margin of 12.24% and a negative return on equity of 1.63%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that iHeartMedia, Inc. will post -0.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IHRT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded iHeartMedia from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $4.00 to $3.50 in a report on Friday, January 9th. Bank of America increased their target price on iHeartMedia from $3.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of iHeartMedia in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $4.33.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iHeartMedia

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IHRT. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in iHeartMedia by 67.7% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,368 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 3,378 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of iHeartMedia during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Xponance LLC bought a new position in shares of iHeartMedia in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of iHeartMedia in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new position in shares of iHeartMedia in the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. 93.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

iHeartMedia Company Profile

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.