Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT) Price Target Cut to $500.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays cut its Spotify price target from $600 to $500 while keeping an "overweight" rating, implying roughly a 13.6% upside; several other brokers have also trimmed targets although MarketBeat's consensus price target remains $676.07 with a "Moderate Buy" rating.
• Spotify beat Q1 estimates (revenue $5.32B, EPS $5.16) but issued weak Q2 guidance and warned of ad-revenue softness and near-term margin pressure from higher AI investment, which sparked the recent selloff.
• Company insiders sold material stakes in early April — CEOs Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström sold 20,833 and 5,436 shares respectively — reducing their holdings; insiders now own about 0.40% of the stock.

Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT - Get Free Report) had its target price dropped by analysts at Barclays from $600.00 to $500.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Barclays's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 13.57% from the stock's current price.

SPOT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on shares of Spotify Technology from $670.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Spotify Technology from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Spotify Technology from $615.00 to $525.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Daiwa Securities Group started coverage on shares of Spotify Technology in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $535.00 target price for the company. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Spotify Technology from $745.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $676.07.

Spotify Technology Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE:SPOT traded up $6.07 on Wednesday, reaching $440.27. The stock had a trading volume of 530,079 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,670,463. The company has a market capitalization of $90.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.70. Spotify Technology has a 1-year low of $405.00 and a 1-year high of $785.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $501.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $548.45.

Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $5.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.16 by $2.00. The firm had revenue of $5.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. Spotify Technology had a net margin of 13.16% and a return on equity of 31.35%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Spotify Technology will post 15.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Spotify Technology

In other Spotify Technology news, CEO Gustav Soderstrom sold 20,833 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.52, for a total value of $9,864,842.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 20,609 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,758,773.68. The trade was a 50.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Alex Norstrom sold 5,436 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.51, for a total transaction of $2,606,616.36. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spotify Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Spotify Technology by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,712,249 shares of the company's stock worth $2,736,450,000 after buying an additional 89,951 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Spotify Technology by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,869,472 shares of the company's stock worth $2,247,042,000 after buying an additional 149,479 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Spotify Technology by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,863,821 shares of the company's stock worth $1,663,024,000 after buying an additional 133,108 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Spotify Technology by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,665,512 shares of the company's stock worth $1,547,890,000 after buying an additional 62,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coatue Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Spotify Technology by 35.9% during the fourth quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 2,450,881 shares of the company's stock worth $1,423,251,000 after buying an additional 647,708 shares during the last quarter. 84.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

More Spotify Technology News

Here are the key news stories impacting Spotify Technology this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 beat — Spotify reported stronger-than-expected revenue, EPS and monthly active user growth, which supports the company’s top-line momentum. Earnings Call Highlights
• Positive Sentiment: Subscriber strength — Premium subscribers and MAUs continue to climb (near 293M paying users), indicating pricing power and resilience after recent price hikes. Subscriber Report
• Positive Sentiment: New product/partnership upside — Spotify is expanding into fitness content with a global Peloton partnership (1,400+ classes), which diversifies content and could broaden engagement/ARPU for Premium users. Peloton Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst note: Rosenblatt trimmed its price target from $670 to $500 and assigned a "neutral" rating — a signal that some analysts are tempering upside expectations even though the new target still implies some upside from current levels. Rosenblatt Note
• Negative Sentiment: Weak Q2 guidance drove the selloff — Spotify forecast Q2 operating income and premium-subscriber additions below Street estimates (operating income guidance ~€630M vs. higher consensus), which triggered heavy selling despite the Q1 beat. Guidance/Reuters
• Negative Sentiment: Ad-revenue softness and higher AI investment expectations — Management highlighted ad-market weakness and that AI initiatives could pressure margins near-term, a key reason the stock dropped despite strong reported profit. Ad Weakness
• Negative Sentiment: AI/regulatory and product risks — Reports that Spotify has no firm plan to label AI-generated music (and user tools to filter AI tracks) plus regulatory scrutiny (investigations into playlist practices) add reputational and operational uncertainty. AI Labeling Concerns

About Spotify Technology

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.