Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Buys 23,996 Shares of Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE:SPHR)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its holdings in Sphere Entertainment Co. (NYSE:SPHR) by 30.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 102,570 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,996 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Sphere Entertainment were worth $3,596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SPHR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Sphere Entertainment by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,534,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,095,000 after purchasing an additional 299,931 shares during the last quarter. Bornite Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Sphere Entertainment during the first quarter valued at about $9,816,000. Ariel Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Sphere Entertainment by 2.7% during the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 5,118,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,218,000 after buying an additional 135,641 shares during the period. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Sphere Entertainment by 4.4% during the first quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,542,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,804,000 after buying an additional 106,651 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Sphere Entertainment by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,789,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,741,000 after buying an additional 100,311 shares during the period. 92.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Benchmark assumed coverage on shares of Sphere Entertainment in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Sphere Entertainment from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Sphere Entertainment from $48.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Macquarie upped their price objective on shares of Sphere Entertainment from $38.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Sphere Entertainment from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $57.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sphere Entertainment presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.00.

Sphere Entertainment Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:SPHR traded down $0.43 during trading on Friday, reaching $46.60. 549,539 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 705,937. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.65. Sphere Entertainment Co. has a 52-week low of $27.02 and a 52-week high of $51.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 1.41.

Sphere Entertainment (NYSE:SPHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported ($2.00) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.47) by $0.47. Sphere Entertainment had a net margin of 43.36% and a return on equity of 8.11%. The firm had revenue of $273.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $271.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $15.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 111.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sphere Entertainment Co. will post -4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sphere Entertainment Profile

Sphere Entertainment Co engages in the entertainment business. It produces, presents, or hosts various live entertainment events, including concerts, family shows, and special events, as well as sporting events, such as professional boxing, college basketball and hockey, professional bull riding, mixed martial arts, and esports and wrestling in its venues, including The Garden, Hulu Theater, Radio City Music Hall, and the Beacon Theatre in New York City; and The Chicago Theatre.