Versant (NASDAQ:VSNT) Stock Lifted to Strong-Buy by Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Versant (NASDAQ:VSNT) to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday,Zacks reports.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on VSNT. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Versant in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Arete Research raised Versant from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Versant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Versant from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Versant from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Versant Stock Up 1.4%

VSNT opened at $33.50 on Wednesday. Versant has a 12 month low of $27.17 and a 12 month high of $59.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $37.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.47. The company has a market cap of $4.65 billion and a P/E ratio of 9.63.

Versant (NASDAQ:VSNT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter. On average, equities analysts expect that Versant will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Versant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.3750 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 1st. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Versant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.10%.

Institutional Trading of Versant

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Versant by 110.1% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 70,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,545,000 after purchasing an additional 37,028 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp bought a new position in shares of Versant in the second quarter worth about $171,182,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in shares of Versant during the 2nd quarter valued at about $541,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Versant by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 28,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in Versant during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,781,000.

Versant Company Profile

Versant is a media and entertainment company formed through the separation of Comcast’s cable-network and digital-media businesses. The company operates a portfolio of television networks and related platforms that provide news, sports, entertainment and lifestyle programming to audiences in the United States and internationally.

Its brands include USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, E!, Syfy, Oxygen and Golf Channel. Versant also has digital and consumer-facing businesses associated with its media portfolio, including Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes and Xumo.