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

iHeartMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:IHRT) CEO Robert Pittman acquired 32,468 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost 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 $20,198,545.25. This represents a 0.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

iHeartMedia Stock Up 4.9%

Shares of IHRT stock traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $3.23. 1,115,184 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 675,341. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3.40. iHeartMedia, Inc. has a 12-month low of $0.95 and a 12-month high of $5.44. The stock has a market cap of $485.02 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.05, a PEG ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.70.

iHeartMedia (NASDAQ:IHRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.06). iHeartMedia had a negative net margin of 12.24% and a negative return on equity of 1.63%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that iHeartMedia, Inc. will post -0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of iHeartMedia

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of iHeartMedia by 99.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,214,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,976 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in iHeartMedia by 22.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,872,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,739,000 after purchasing an additional 532,414 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new position in iHeartMedia during the first quarter valued at $186,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in iHeartMedia by 2.7% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,307,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,815,000 after purchasing an additional 85,957 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of iHeartMedia by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,822,306 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,968,000 after buying an additional 186,402 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.89% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IHRT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of iHeartMedia from $3.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded iHeartMedia from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the company from $4.00 to $3.50 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of iHeartMedia in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $4.33.

About iHeartMedia

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.