Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires Shares of 1,934 TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:TKO)

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:TKO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,934 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $296,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TKO. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of TKO Group by 26.8% in the first quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 1,961 shares of the company's stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc. acquired a new position in TKO Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,091,000. Czech National Bank bought a new position in TKO Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,337,000. Somerset Trust Co acquired a new stake in TKO Group during the first quarter worth approximately $282,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TKO Group by 19,832.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 271,085 shares of the company's stock worth $41,424,000 after acquiring an additional 269,725 shares during the period. 89.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on TKO. Benchmark reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of TKO Group in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on TKO Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on TKO Group from $128.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of TKO Group from $158.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of TKO Group from $170.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, TKO Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $168.08.

TKO Group Price Performance

TKO traded down $0.82 on Thursday, reaching $164.10. The stock had a trading volume of 493,181 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,115,016. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $32.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -390.71 and a beta of 0.70. TKO Group Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.76 and a fifty-two week high of $179.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $157.51 and a 200-day moving average of $152.20.

TKO Group (NYSE:TKO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.14. TKO Group had a positive return on equity of 3.39% and a negative net margin of 1.26%. The company had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.26) earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that TKO Group Holdings, Inc. will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

TKO Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. TKO Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 77.16%.

Insider Activity at TKO Group

In other news, Director Sonya E. Medina bought 233 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $142.93 per share, for a total transaction of $33,302.69. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $285,860. This represents a 13.19% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Lake West Voteco L.L.C Silver acquired 1,579,080 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $158.32 per share, with a total value of $249,999,945.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 4,158,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $658,376,411.44. This represents a 61.22% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 1,580,293 shares of company stock worth $250,199,446 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 53.80% of the company's stock.

About TKO Group

TKO Group Holdings, Inc operates as a sports and entertainment company. The company produces and licenses live events, television programs, and long-form and short-form content, reality series, and other filmed entertainment on digital and linear channels and via pay-per-view. It is involved in the merchandising of video games, apparel, equipment, trading cards, memorabilia, digital goods, and toys, as well as sale of travel packages and tickets.