Stagwell (NASDAQ:STGW) Shares Gap Up - Time to Buy?

Key Points

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Stagwell Inc. (NASDAQ:STGW - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $5.16, but opened at $5.58. Stagwell shares last traded at $5.93, with a volume of 715,307 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STGW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $6.36 target price on shares of Stagwell in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Stagwell from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Stagwell from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Benchmark lowered Stagwell from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Stagwell from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $8.17.

Stagwell Trading Up 3.7%

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.87 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $4.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.47.

Stagwell (NASDAQ:STGW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $706.82 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.03 million. Stagwell had a positive return on equity of 14.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The company's revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Stagwell Inc. will post 0.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Stagwell

In related news, Director Charlene Barshefsky purchased 24,350 shares of Stagwell stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $4.30 per share, with a total value of $104,705.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 185,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $796,858.80. The trade was a 15.13% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Eli Samaha purchased 425,757 shares of Stagwell stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $4.27 per share, with a total value of $1,817,982.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,774,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,196,354.94. This represents a 5.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders purchased 702,193 shares of company stock valued at $3,044,496. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Stagwell by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,548,288 shares of the company's stock worth $33,567,000 after buying an additional 149,020 shares during the last quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Stagwell during the 2nd quarter worth $10,001,000. Penn Capital Management Company LLC grew its stake in Stagwell by 24.8% during the 1st quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 2,084,525 shares of the company's stock worth $12,646,000 after buying an additional 413,597 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Stagwell by 21.9% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,010,698 shares of the company's stock worth $9,048,000 after buying an additional 361,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Stagwell by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,730,153 shares of the company's stock worth $11,385,000 after buying an additional 51,341 shares during the last quarter. 35.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.