Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on LYV. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Live Nation Entertainment from $172.00 to $168.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Live Nation Entertainment from $164.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Live Nation Entertainment in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Live Nation Entertainment from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Live Nation Entertainment in a report on Thursday. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.75.

Live Nation Entertainment Stock Performance

Shares of LYV opened at $158.30 on Friday. Live Nation Entertainment has a 52-week low of $112.88 and a 52-week high of $175.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $150.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.51, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -659.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 1.18.

Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($1.06) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.00) by ($0.06). Live Nation Entertainment had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 48.11%. The company had revenue of $6.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Live Nation Entertainment will post 2.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Live Nation Entertainment

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Live Nation Entertainment by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,269,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Live Nation Entertainment by 10.0% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in Live Nation Entertainment by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 2,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $369,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Live Nation Entertainment during the 2nd quarter valued at $217,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Live Nation Entertainment by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 67,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,150,000 after acquiring an additional 2,191 shares during the last quarter. 74.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Live Nation Entertainment

Live Nation Entertainment is a global live entertainment company that promotes, operates and sells tickets for live events. The company’s core activities include concert promotion and production, venue operations and management, ticketing services through its Ticketmaster platform, artist management and development, and sponsorship and advertising services tied to live events. These integrated businesses are designed to connect artists, fans and commercial partners across the live event ecosystem.

The company in its current form was created following the 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, combining a promoter and venue operator with one of the industry’s largest ticketing platforms.