First Trust Advisors LP Purchases 247,200 Shares of Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA)

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA – Get Rating) by 27.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,151,801 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 247,200 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Paramount Global were worth $19,440,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PARA. Allianz Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in Paramount Global during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,281,000. South Dakota Investment Council bought a new position in Paramount Global during the 3rd quarter worth about $367,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Paramount Global during the 3rd quarter worth about $4,872,000. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in Paramount Global during the 3rd quarter worth about $858,000. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paramount Global during the 4th quarter worth about $366,000. Institutional investors own 74.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Paramount Global

In other Paramount Global news, Director Shari Redstone bought 165,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.06 per share, with a total value of $2,484,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 577,064 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,690,583.84. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PARA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Macquarie downgraded shares of Paramount Global from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $15.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Paramount Global from $25.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Paramount Global in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Paramount Global in a research note on Wednesday, March 22nd. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Paramount Global from $15.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Friday, May 12th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paramount Global presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.23.

Paramount Global Price Performance

PARA stock opened at $15.17 on Monday. Paramount Global has a 12-month low of $14.88 and a 12-month high of $34.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $9.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.45, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.64. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.08.

Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.03). Paramount Global had a negative net margin of 1.49% and a positive return on equity of 3.64%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Paramount Global will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Paramount Global Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. Paramount Global’s payout ratio is presently -123.08%.

Paramount Global Profile

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Paramount Global operates as a mass media company, which creates and distributes content across a variety of platforms to audiences around the world. It operates its business through the following segments: Entertainment, Cable Networks, Publishing, and Local Media. The Entertainment segment is composed of the CBS Television Network, CBS Television Studios, CBS Studios International, CBS Television Distribution, CBS Interactive, and CBS Films, as well as the company’s digital streaming services, CBS All Access and CBSN.