Blair William & Co. IL Sells 17,589 Shares of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. $LYV

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL reduced its Live Nation stake by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 17,589 shares and leaving it with 680,443 shares valued at about $96.96 million.
• Insider selling picked up, with EVP John Hopmans selling 93,078 shares and EVP Michael Rowles selling 63,776 shares in May, both trimming their holdings significantly.
• Analysts remain mostly bullish on Live Nation, with 20 Buy ratings versus 3 Holds and a consensus price target of $188.50, even after the company reported a quarterly EPS miss despite stronger-than-expected revenue.

Blair William & Co. IL cut its stake in shares of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:LYV - Free Report) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 680,443 shares of the company's stock after selling 17,589 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.29% of Live Nation Entertainment worth $96,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Live Nation Entertainment by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,679,128 shares of the company's stock worth $3,378,970,000 after purchasing an additional 372,715 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Live Nation Entertainment by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,727,681 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,528,700,000 after buying an additional 1,001,905 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Live Nation Entertainment by 4.8% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,145,834 shares of the company's stock worth $840,829,000 after buying an additional 237,342 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Live Nation Entertainment by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,301,900 shares of the company's stock worth $610,707,000 after buying an additional 20,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Live Nation Entertainment by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,195,473 shares of the company's stock valued at $455,355,000 after acquiring an additional 123,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.52% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Live Nation Entertainment

In other news, EVP John Hopmans sold 93,078 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.07, for a total value of $15,457,463.46. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 188,751 shares in the company, valued at $31,345,878.57. This trade represents a 33.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Michael Rowles sold 63,776 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.24, for a total value of $10,474,570.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 204,716 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,622,555.84. This represents a 23.75% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 2.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LYV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Live Nation Entertainment in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Live Nation Entertainment in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and set a $198.00 target price on shares of Live Nation Entertainment in a report on Friday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Live Nation Entertainment from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Live Nation Entertainment from $205.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $188.50.

Live Nation Entertainment Trading Down 1.0%

LYV opened at $174.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $153.55. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $125.34 and a fifty-two week high of $176.00. The company has a market cap of $41.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -98.39 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.93, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($1.85) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.35) by ($1.50). The business had revenue of $3.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.57 billion. Live Nation Entertainment had a net margin of 0.15% and a return on equity of 45.92%. Live Nation Entertainment's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.32) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Live Nation Entertainment Company Profile

Live Nation Entertainment is a global live entertainment company that promotes, operates and sells tickets for live events. The company's core activities include concert promotion and production, venue operations and management, ticketing services through its Ticketmaster platform, artist management and development, and sponsorship and advertising services tied to live events. These integrated businesses are designed to connect artists, fans and commercial partners across the live event ecosystem.

The company in its current form was created following the 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, combining a promoter and venue operator with one of the industry's largest ticketing platforms.

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