Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in OUTFRONT Media Inc. $OUT

Key Points

• Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. significantly reduced its stake in OUTFRONT Media by 94.7%, selling over 642,000 shares and now holding 35,688 shares worth approximately $576,000.
• OUTFRONT Media declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30, resulting in a 6.6% dividend yield, with the payout date set for September 30th.
• Despite a revenue decline of 3.6% year-over-year, OUTFRONT Media reported earnings of $0.51 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.48.

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. cut its stake in OUTFRONT Media Inc. (NYSE:OUT - Free Report) by 94.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,688 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 642,242 shares during the quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.'s holdings in OUTFRONT Media were worth $576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in OUT. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of OUTFRONT Media by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,119,006 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $37,591,000 after purchasing an additional 159,848 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of OUTFRONT Media by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 346,544 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,148,000 after purchasing an additional 76,306 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of OUTFRONT Media by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,046 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 4,208 shares in the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of OUTFRONT Media by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 63,479 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,126,000 after purchasing an additional 2,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of OUTFRONT Media in the 4th quarter worth $608,000.

Insider Activity at OUTFRONT Media

In other OUTFRONT Media news, major shareholder Pep Viii Gp Llc sold 8,400,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.06, for a total transaction of $151,704,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 8,913,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,983,462.78. The trade was a 48.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Richard H. Sauer sold 29,891 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.79, for a total value of $471,978.89. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 90,945 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,436,021.55. This trade represents a 24.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,454,126 shares of company stock worth $152,575,272 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

OUTFRONT Media Price Performance

Shares of OUTFRONT Media stock traded down $0.15 on Wednesday, hitting $18.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,441,176 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,599,123. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.60, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.61. OUTFRONT Media Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.95 and a 1 year high of $19.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $18.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.71. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.87.

OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. OUTFRONT Media had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 5.99%.The firm had revenue of $460.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $463.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. OUTFRONT Media's revenue for the quarter was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that OUTFRONT Media Inc. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OUTFRONT Media Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. OUTFRONT Media's payout ratio is currently 206.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on OUT shares. Barrington Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of OUTFRONT Media in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $19.00 price target (up previously from $17.00) on shares of OUTFRONT Media in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen raised OUTFRONT Media from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of OUTFRONT Media in a research report on Sunday, July 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on OUTFRONT Media from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $19.00.

OUTFRONT Media Profile

OUTFRONT Media, Inc leases advertising space on out-of-home advertising structures and sites. Its inventory consists of billboard displays, which are primarily located on the most heavily traveled highways & roadways, and transit advertising displays operated under exclusive multi-year contracts with municipalities in large cities across the U.S.