Getty Images (NYSE:GETY) Cut to "Hold" at Benchmark

Key Points

• Getty Images has been downgraded by Benchmark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating, with a new price target of $3.50, indicating a potential upside of 105.28% from its last closing price.
• The company's recent earnings report revealed an EPS of $0.05, surpassing analyst expectations, while revenue increased by 2.5% year-over-year.
• Despite the downgrade, Getty Images has varied ratings from analysts, with current consensus being a "hold" and a price target average of $4.20.

Benchmark cut shares of Getty Images (NYSE:GETY - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $3.50 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on GETY. Wedbush upgraded shares of Getty Images to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Getty Images from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Getty Images has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $4.03.

Getty Images Price Performance

Getty Images stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $1.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 817,712 shares, compared to its average volume of 907,957. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $1.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $1.92. Getty Images has a 12 month low of $1.25 and a 12 month high of $4.49. The company has a market capitalization of $750.81 million, a PE ratio of -6.46 and a beta of 1.87.

Getty Images (NYSE:GETY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.03 by ($0.11). Getty Images had a negative return on equity of 14.39% and a negative net margin of 12.19%. The business had revenue of $234.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $234.77 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.01 earnings per share. Getty Images's revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Getty Images will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Getty Images news, CEO Craig Warren Peters sold 33,262 shares of Getty Images stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.77, for a total transaction of $58,873.74. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,686 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,265,044.22. The trade was a 2.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 80,010 shares of company stock worth $141,618. Insiders own 11.20% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Getty Images

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GETY. Koch Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Getty Images in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $174,385,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Getty Images by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,471,652 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,116,000 after buying an additional 246,403 shares in the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Getty Images in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,646,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Getty Images by 43.8% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,434,545 shares of the company's stock worth $4,041,000 after purchasing an additional 742,008 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Getty Images by 14.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,866,490 shares of the company's stock worth $3,099,000 after purchasing an additional 228,532 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.75% of the company's stock.

Getty Images Company Profile

Getty Images Holdings, Inc offers creative and editorial visual content solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Its products include Getty Images that offers creative and editorial content including stills, music and video which focuses on corporate, agency, and media customers; iStock.com, an e-commerce offering where customers have access to creative stills and video; Unsplash.com, a platform offering free stock photo downloads and paid subscriptions targeted to the high-growth prosumer and semi-professional creator segments; and Unsplash+ that provides access to unique model released content with expanded legal protections.