Stagwell (NASDAQ:STGW) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Stagwell (NASDAQ:STGW) has been downgraded to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, which follows several mixed ratings from other analysts, indicating uncertainty regarding the stock's future performance.
• The company's shares opened at $5.75, with a market capitalization of $1.49 billion and a current consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $8.17.
• Stagwell's quarterly earnings revealed a miss on EPS at $0.17, compared to the estimated $0.19, while its revenue increased by 5.3% year-over-year, reaching $706.82 million.

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Stagwell (NASDAQ:STGW - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday morning.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $6.36 price target on shares of Stagwell in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Benchmark lowered Stagwell from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Stagwell from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $10.00 price target on shares of Stagwell in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Stagwell from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $8.17.

Stagwell Price Performance

Stagwell stock traded down $0.04 on Friday, reaching $5.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 516,464 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,331,199. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.87 and a beta of 1.41. The business's fifty day moving average price is $5.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.38. Stagwell has a twelve month low of $4.03 and a twelve month high of $8.18.

Stagwell (NASDAQ:STGW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.02). Stagwell had a positive return on equity of 14.54% and a negative net margin of 0.06%.The business had revenue of $706.82 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. Stagwell's revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Stagwell has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.750-0.880 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Stagwell will post 0.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Stagwell news, Director Charlene Barshefsky purchased 24,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $4.30 per share, for a total transaction of $104,705.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 185,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at $796,858.80. The trade was a 15.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Eli Samaha purchased 425,757 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $4.27 per share, with a total value of $1,817,982.39. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 7,774,322 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,196,354.94. This represents a 5.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 690,107 shares of company stock worth $2,985,887 in the last three months. Insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stagwell

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Stagwell by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 622,361 shares of the company's stock worth $4,095,000 after buying an additional 1,759 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Stagwell by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 48,944 shares of the company's stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 1,892 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Stagwell by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 351,397 shares of the company's stock worth $2,312,000 after buying an additional 1,974 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Stagwell by 11.7% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,663 shares of the company's stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 2,066 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Stagwell by 1.5% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 178,100 shares of the company's stock worth $1,078,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares in the last quarter. 35.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Stagwell

Stagwell Inc provides digital transformation, performance media and data, consumer insights and strategy, and creativity and communications services. The company operates through three segments: Integrated Agencies Network, Brand Performance Network, and Communications Network. It designs and builds digital platforms and experiences that support the delivery of content, commerce, service, and sales; creates websites, mobile applications, back-end systems, content and data management systems, and other digital environments; designs and implements technology and data strategies; and develops software and related technology products, including artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled communications, research, and media technology, cookie-less data platforms for advance targeting and activation, software tools for e-commerce applications, specialty media solutions in the augmented reality space, and text messaging applications for consumer engagement.