Janus Henderson Group PLC Increases Stock Holdings in Spotify Technology $SPOT

Key Points

• Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its Spotify stake by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, holding 1,424,171 shares worth about $827.1 million at quarter end.
• Wall Street sentiment remains constructive overall: analysts assign Spotify a Moderate Buy consensus, with an average price target of $652.16.
• Spotify beat earnings expectations in its latest quarter, reporting $4.04 EPS on $5.25 billion in revenue, while the stock was trading down around 2.8% at $456.54 in the article.

Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT - Free Report) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,424,171 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 30,028 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned 0.69% of Spotify Technology worth $827,136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Spotify Technology by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 295 shares of the company's stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Spotify Technology by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 636 shares of the company's stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Spotify Technology by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 260 shares of the company's stock valued at $181,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Spotify Technology by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 633 shares of the company's stock valued at $442,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Finally, Modern Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Spotify Technology by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 289 shares of the company's stock valued at $202,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. 84.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on SPOT. Benchmark reduced their price target on Spotify Technology from $760.00 to $695.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Arete Research raised Spotify Technology from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $586.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Spotify Technology from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Pivotal Research reduced their price target on Spotify Technology from $420.00 to $400.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Spotify Technology from $760.00 to $735.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $652.16.

Insider Activity at Spotify Technology

In other Spotify Technology news, Director Sven Hans Martin Lorentzon sold 35,380 shares of Spotify Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.73, for a total transaction of $18,600,327.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,383 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,355,734.59. The trade was a 84.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Alex Norstrom sold 5,436 shares of Spotify Technology stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.51, for a total value of $2,606,616.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 69,989 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,560,425.39. This trade represents a 7.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 111,442 shares of company stock valued at $54,647,508 over the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Spotify Technology Stock Down 2.8%

SPOT opened at $456.54 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $93.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.56. Spotify Technology has a 52 week low of $405.00 and a 52 week high of $785.00. The business's 50 day moving average is $481.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $507.77.

Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $4.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.63. The company had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.23 billion. Spotify Technology had a return on equity of 35.73% and a net margin of 15.56%.The firm's revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.07 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Spotify Technology will post 14.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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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