Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 46,097 Shares of Spotify Technology $SPOT

Key Points

• Franklin Resources reduced its stake in Spotify by 4.1% in Q3, selling 46,097 shares and retaining 1,085,002 shares (about 0.53% of the company) worth roughly $757.3 million per its SEC filing.
• Spotify delivered a significant quarterly beat with EPS $5.16 vs. $3.16 expected and $5.32 billion in revenue, and analysts currently rate the stock an average "Moderate Buy" with a mean target of $703.87.
• Institutions own 84.09% of SPOT and several large managers increased positions, but recent analyst downgrades and trimmed targets have introduced near‑term pressure on the stock's outlook.

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its stake in Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT - Free Report) by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,085,002 shares of the company's stock after selling 46,097 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.53% of Spotify Technology worth $757,332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SPOT. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Spotify Technology by 1.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,574,228 shares of the company's stock worth $3,509,988,000 after purchasing an additional 74,256 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Spotify Technology by 40.7% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,730,713 shares of the company's stock worth $1,906,260,000 after buying an additional 789,755 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Spotify Technology by 4.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,602,625 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,816,632,000 after buying an additional 113,612 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Spotify Technology by 3.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,568,502 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,192,730,000 after buying an additional 49,377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Spotify Technology by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,454,383 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,116,007,000 after buying an additional 214,355 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.09% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SPOT. Erste Group Bank cut Spotify Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Spotify Technology from $830.00 to $720.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Spotify Technology from $615.00 to $525.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Spotify Technology from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $735.00 to $700.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Pivotal Research lowered shares of Spotify Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $875.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $703.87.

Spotify Technology Price Performance

NYSE:SPOT opened at $530.27 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.01, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.66. Spotify Technology has a 1 year low of $405.00 and a 1 year high of $785.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $506.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $598.51.

Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.16 by $2.00. Spotify Technology had a return on equity of 31.35% and a net margin of 13.16%.The firm had revenue of $5.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Spotify Technology will post 10.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Key Stories Impacting Spotify Technology

Here are the key news stories impacting Spotify Technology this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong recent fundamentals: SPOT reported a big EPS beat in its latest quarter and revenue growth, supporting a higher long‑term valuation case and giving bulls ammunition. Earnings/Performance Summary
• Positive Sentiment: New and expanding institutional interest: some long‑term managers (e.g., Polen Capital, D.E. Shaw additions cited in filings) have added positions, signaling conviction in podcasts/audiobooks and ad monetization upside. Polen Capital / Institutional Activity
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑term service disruption resolved: users reported outages across multiple platforms including Spotify, but the company’s app and website were reported as “much better now,” suggesting limited lasting user‑impact if recovery holds. Outage Recovery
• Neutral Sentiment: Momentum and valuation check: analysis pieces highlight that SPOT has seen large recent share swings (notably a strong 1‑month gain) and renewed attention on valuation metrics — useful context but not an immediate catalyst. Valuation Analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Platform dynamics: research on music discovery (TikTok vs Spotify) underscores changing consumption patterns—important for long‑term content strategy but incremental versus near‑term earnings catalysts. Consumption Trends
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades and reduced sentiment: Wolfe Research, Pivotal and others have trimmed ratings/targets citing valuation and execution risk after price hikes; this has prompted near‑term profit taking. Analyst Downgrades
• Negative Sentiment: Lowered estimates from brokers: Erste Group and others have trimmed earnings forecasts, adding pressure to the stock’s near‑term outlook as investors reassess growth vs. valuation. Broker Estimate Cuts
• Negative Sentiment: Broader risk‑off market backdrop: higher macro risk and rotation away from long‑duration growth names have amplified selling pressure on high‑multiple stocks like SPOT. Investor Rotation / Mixed Institutional Activity

Spotify Technology Profile

Spotify Technology is a digital audio streaming company best known for its on-demand music service and a growing portfolio of spoken-word content. Founded in Sweden in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon and launched commercially in 2008, the company offers a cross-platform app that enables users to discover, stream and organize music, podcasts and other audio. Its primary consumer products include a free, ad-supported tier and a paid Spotify Premium subscription that provides ad-free listening, offline playback and higher-quality audio streams.

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