Sabre (NASDAQ:SABR) Shares Down 5.4% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Shares fell 5.4% to $1.855 on Wednesday, with just 1.57M shares trading—about an 83% drop from the average session volume, indicating very thin trading.
• Analysts' consensus is Reduce with an average price target of $1.97; four analysts rate the stock Hold and two rate it Sell, with recent targets roughly between $1.50 and $2.00.
• Sabre beat the quarter on both EPS (-$0.01 vs. -$0.07) and revenue ($666.5M vs. $654.1M), but is still expected to post negative full-year EPS (~-0.14), and institutional investors own about 89% of the stock after several large recent purchases.

Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ:SABR - Get Free Report) fell 5.4% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $1.8550 and last traded at $1.8550. 1,571,190 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 9,303,692 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.96.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SABR. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $2.00 target price on shares of Sabre in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $1.50 price objective on shares of Sabre in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded Sabre from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Sabre in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $1.97.

Sabre Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $722.37 million, a P/E ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.53.

Sabre (NASDAQ:SABR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The information technology services provider reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $666.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $654.08 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sabre Corporation will post -0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sabre

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SABR. Discerene Group LP boosted its holdings in Sabre by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. Discerene Group LP now owns 38,523,820 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $52,392,000 after acquiring an additional 9,958,212 shares during the period. Par Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Sabre by 57.7% during the 2nd quarter. Par Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,350,000 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $61,146,000 after acquiring an additional 7,082,948 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in Sabre during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,377,000. Stonehill Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Sabre during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,660,000. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Sabre during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,054,000. 89.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Sabre

Sabre Corporation is a leading travel technology company that provides software, data, mobile and distribution solutions to the global travel industry. Through its Sabre travel marketplace, the company operates one of the world's principal global distribution systems (GDS), connecting travel buyers and suppliers across airlines, hotels, car rental companies and other travel providers. Sabre's suite of products includes reservation and ticketing systems for travel agencies, comprehensive airline operations and passenger services solutions, as well as hospitality property management and central reservation systems for hotels.

Established in 1960 as a joint venture between American Airlines and IBM, Sabre introduced one of the first computerized airline reservation systems, pioneering the automation of ticketing and inventory control.

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