Baird Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Position in TKO Group Holdings, Inc. $TKO

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group cut its TKO Group position by 89.1% in the second quarter, selling 123,496 shares and retaining 15,128 shares valued at approximately $3.05 million. Institutional investors still own 89.79% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive view, with 10 Buy ratings and six Holds, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $237.50.
• TKO reported quarterly revenue of $1.55 billion, up 18.2% year over year, but earnings per share of $1.34 missed estimates. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.79 per share, representing a 1.6% annualized yield.

Baird Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:TKO - Free Report) by 89.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,128 shares of the company's stock after selling 123,496 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in TKO Group were worth $3,045,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in shares of TKO Group by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 2,160 shares of the company's stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in TKO Group by 12.2% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 615 shares of the company's stock valued at $124,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in TKO Group by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,199 shares of the company's stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in TKO Group by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,425 shares of the company's stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its position in TKO Group by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 16,764 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,504,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 89.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on TKO shares. BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $237.00 price objective on shares of TKO Group in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of TKO Group in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of TKO Group from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Guggenheim increased their price target on TKO Group from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of TKO Group in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $237.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at TKO Group

In other TKO Group news, Director Nick Khan sold 9,589 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.77, for a total transaction of $1,867,649.53. Following the sale, the director directly owned 29,751 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,794,602.27. This represents a 24.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ariel Emanuel sold 24,702 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.39, for a total transaction of $4,801,821.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 174,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,888,786.26. The trade was a 12.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 120,404 shares of company stock valued at $23,073,938 over the last three months. 64.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

TKO Group Stock Performance

Shares of TKO Group stock opened at $192.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $36.46 billion, a PE ratio of 67.60 and a beta of 0.62. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $188.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. TKO Group Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $176.00 and a 1 year high of $226.94.

TKO Group (NYSE:TKO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.07). TKO Group had a net margin of 4.33% and a return on equity of 2.67%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that TKO Group Holdings, Inc. will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TKO Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. TKO Group's payout ratio is presently 110.88%.

TKO Group Profile

TKO Group Holdings, Inc is a sports and entertainment company formed in 2023 through the combination of Endeavor Group Holdings' Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) businesses. The company operates two globally recognized sports properties, producing live events and distributing related programming through television, streaming, digital media and other platforms.

UFC is a mixed martial arts organization that promotes events, develops athletes and licenses media rights, sponsorships, merchandise and other commercial products.

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