Izea Worldwide (NASDAQ:IZEA) Upgraded to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Izea Worldwide (NASDAQ:IZEA) from a "sell" to a "hold" rating, but the stock still carries a MarketBeat consensus of "Sell" after recent negative ratings from Weiss and Zacks.
• Izea reported a quarterly EPS of ($0.07) vs. a ($0.03) estimate and revenue of $6.10M vs. $6.75M expected; the stock trades around $4.17 with a market cap of about $72.3M and a 12‑month range of $1.79–$5.86.
• Several institutional investors (Cove Street, State Street, Dimensional, ARS) have increased positions recently, and roughly 15.56% of the company is owned by hedge funds and other institutions.

Izea Worldwide (NASDAQ:IZEA - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Izea Worldwide in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research cut shares of Izea Worldwide from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Sell rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Izea Worldwide currently has a consensus rating of "Sell".

Izea Worldwide Trading Up 1.7%

Izea Worldwide stock opened at $4.17 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $72.29 million, a P/E ratio of -417,000.00 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.30. Izea Worldwide has a 12-month low of $1.79 and a 12-month high of $5.86.

Izea Worldwide (NASDAQ:IZEA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 17th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $6.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.75 million. Izea Worldwide had a return on equity of 0.09% and a net margin of 0.13%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Izea Worldwide will post 0.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Izea Worldwide

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cove Street Capital LLC lifted its position in Izea Worldwide by 2.7% in the third quarter. Cove Street Capital LLC now owns 181,860 shares of the company's stock valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 4,776 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Izea Worldwide by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 56,862 shares of the company's stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 5,350 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Izea Worldwide by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 62,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 9,380 shares during the period. ARS Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Izea Worldwide by 9.6% in the first quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 117,129 shares of the company's stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 10,288 shares during the period. Finally, Ground Swell Capital LLC acquired a new position in Izea Worldwide in the third quarter valued at $43,000. 15.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Izea Worldwide

IZEA Worldwide, Inc is a technology-driven marketing services company that operates a global digital marketplace connecting brands, agencies and media companies with content creators and influencers. The company's platform enables clients to plan, execute and measure content marketing and social media campaigns across blogs, social networks, video channels and other digital outlets. Through both self-service tools and managed service engagements, IZEA provides end-to-end solutions for influencer marketing, sponsored content creation and content distribution.

Key offerings include campaign management software, content licensing and rights management, influencer discovery and analytics, and performance reporting.

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.