Starz Entertainment (NASDAQ:STRZ) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Raymond James Financial

Starz Entertainment (NASDAQ:STRZ) was upgraded by investment analysts at Raymond James Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Friday, Briefing.com reports. The firm currently has a $36.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James Financial‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 65.59% from the stock’s current price.

STRZ has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Starz Entertainment in a research note on Monday, September 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Starz Entertainment in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Starz Entertainment in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen cut Starz Entertainment from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, Citizens Jmp began coverage on Starz Entertainment in a research report on Monday, September 14th. They set a “market outperform” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Starz Entertainment has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.71.

Starz Entertainment Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of Starz Entertainment stock opened at $21.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.49. The company has a market cap of $372.28 million, a P/E ratio of -0.85 and a beta of 2.55. Starz Entertainment has a 12-month low of $8.40 and a 12-month high of $32.58.

Starz Entertainment (NASDAQ:STRZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The company reported ($2.02) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.63) by ($0.39). The company had revenue of $322.40 million during the quarter. Starz Entertainment had a negative return on equity of 25.64% and a negative net margin of 33.98%. Research analysts anticipate that Starz Entertainment will post -6.12 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Starz Entertainment news, major shareholder Allen Family Capital, Llc sold 363,786 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.06, for a total transaction of $7,661,333.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 1,803,786 shares of company stock valued at $44,912,698 in the last 90 days. 22.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Starz Entertainment

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in STRZ. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Starz Entertainment in the second quarter worth $34,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Starz Entertainment in the second quarter worth $196,000. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Starz Entertainment during the third quarter valued at $184,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Starz Entertainment during the second quarter valued at $342,000. Finally, Ratan Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Starz Entertainment in the 2nd quarter worth about $368,000.

Key Starz Entertainment News

Here are the key news stories impacting Starz Entertainment this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue reached approximately $322.4 million, exceeding estimates, while total and OTT revenue grew both sequentially and year over year. Adjusted OIBDA more than doubled from the prior year. Starz Entertainment Corp. Reports Third-Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management said the net loss narrowed to $34.8 million as streaming gains offset continued declines in the linear television business. Starz reaffirmed its 2026 and 2027 objectives, including OTT revenue growth, adjusted OIBDA growth, lower leverage and improving free cash flow. Starz Narrows Net Loss as Streaming Offsets Linear Declines
• Neutral Sentiment: Starz is emphasizing greater ownership of original programming to improve the long-term economics of its content slate. The strategy could support margins, but execution remains important in a competitive direct-to-consumer market. Starz Q3 Revenue Grows and Losses Narrow
• Negative Sentiment: Starz reported a quarterly loss of roughly $2.02 to $2.14 per share, worse than analyst expectations for a loss of $1.33 to $1.63 per share. The earnings miss likely outweighed the revenue beat, despite the loss improving from the prior year. Starz Reports Q3 Loss and Tops Revenue Estimates
• Negative Sentiment: Major shareholder Allen Family Capital disclosed numerous stock sales during August and September, including a combined reduction of hundreds of thousands of shares. The sustained selling may pressure sentiment, although the transactions occurred before the earnings release. SEC Ownership Filing

About Starz Entertainment

Starz Entertainment Corp. is a media and entertainment company that operates premium subscription television and streaming services. Its offerings include the STARZ premium network, related linear television channels and the STARZ streaming platform, which provides original series, feature films and licensed entertainment content.

The company’s programming has included original dramas, comedies and franchises, as well as a selection of theatrical and television movies. STARZ content is distributed through traditional pay-TV providers, digital platforms and direct-to-consumer subscriptions, with availability varying by market and distribution partner.

Starz was established in 1994 as a premium television service and was acquired by Lionsgate in 2016.