Legal & General Group Plc Sells 23,918 Shares of Spotify Technology $SPOT

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its Spotify stake by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 23,918 shares and still holding 1,096,524 shares valued at about $636.8 million.
• Insider selling has also been active: CEO Alex Norstrom and CEO Gustav Soderstrom both sold shares recently, and insiders have sold 47,102 shares worth about $21.4 million over the last 90 days.
• Spotify reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $4.04 beating estimates and revenue of $5.25 billion topping expectations; analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $652.46.

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT - Free Report) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,096,524 shares of the company's stock after selling 23,918 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.53% of Spotify Technology worth $636,762,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Spotify Technology by 35.1% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 682,639 shares of the company's stock worth $476,483,000 after purchasing an additional 177,310 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Spotify Technology by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 645,196 shares of the company's stock worth $374,672,000 after purchasing an additional 73,722 shares in the last quarter. Truxt Investmentos Ltda. acquired a new position in shares of Spotify Technology during the third quarter worth $2,093,000. Ownership Capital B.V. acquired a new position in shares of Spotify Technology during the third quarter worth $2,769,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Spotify Technology by 2.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,005,882 shares of the company's stock worth $702,106,000 after purchasing an additional 24,199 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.09% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spotify Technology

In other Spotify Technology news, CEO Alex Norstrom sold 5,436 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $479.51, for a total value of $2,606,616.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 69,989 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,560,425.39. This represents a 7.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Gustav Soderstrom sold 20,833 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.72, for a total transaction of $8,973,189.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 20,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,826,314.24. The trade was a 50.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,102 shares of company stock worth $21,444,648. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Spotify Technology Price Performance

NYSE SPOT opened at $518.92 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $480.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $522.24. Spotify Technology has a 1 year low of $405.00 and a 1 year high of $785.00. The company has a market cap of $106.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.35, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.55.

Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $4.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.63. Spotify Technology had a return on equity of 35.73% and a net margin of 15.56%.The firm had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.07 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Spotify Technology will post 14.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on SPOT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Spotify Technology from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Daiwa Securities Group started coverage on Spotify Technology in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $535.00 price target on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Spotify Technology from $500.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Spotify Technology from $745.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Benchmark cut their target price 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Spotify Technology presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $652.46.

Spotify Technology Company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.