Short Interest in iHeartMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:IHRT) Declines By 17.3%

iHeartMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:IHRT) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 4,684,464 shares, a decline of 17.3% from the February 26th total of 5,661,766 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,122,890 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other iHeartMedia news, CEO Robert W. Pittman bought 32,468 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $3.25 per share, with a total value of $105,521.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 6,214,937 shares in the company, valued at $20,198,545.25. The trade was a 0.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 8.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On iHeartMedia

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Global Media & Entertainment Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of iHeartMedia during the third quarter worth $52,061,800,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in iHeartMedia by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,022,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,154,000 after purchasing an additional 93,757 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in iHeartMedia by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,713,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,929,000 after purchasing an additional 741,736 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in iHeartMedia by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,774,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,701,000 after purchasing an additional 380,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in iHeartMedia by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,989,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,441,000 after buying an additional 111,754 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.89% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of iHeartMedia in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of 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 report on Friday, January 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $4.25.

iHeartMedia Stock Performance

iHeartMedia stock opened at $2.80 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $3.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3.48. iHeartMedia has a 12 month low of $0.95 and a 12 month high of $5.44. The company has a market capitalization of $421.80 million, a PE ratio of -0.91, a P/E/G ratio of 26.85 and a beta of 1.70.

iHeartMedia (NASDAQ:IHRT) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. iHeartMedia had a negative return on equity of 1.63% and a negative net margin of 12.24%. As a group, analysts predict that iHeartMedia will post -0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.