KBC Group NV Reduces Position in Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA)

KBC Group NV reduced its stake in Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 257,383 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,690 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Paramount Global were worth $2,734,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PARA. Lingotto Investment Management LLP grew its stake in Paramount Global by 628.8% in the 2nd quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 29,937,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $311,046,000 after acquiring an additional 25,829,185 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Paramount Global by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,090,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $730,805,000 after acquiring an additional 3,803,928 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in Paramount Global by 323.5% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 2,754,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,103,938 shares in the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC grew its stake in Paramount Global by 16.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 14,042,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,899,000 after acquiring an additional 1,992,576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Paramount Global by 602.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,783,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,530,000 after acquiring an additional 1,529,719 shares in the last quarter. 73.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on PARA shares. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Paramount Global from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Paramount Global in a research report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Paramount Global from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Macquarie reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $10.00 price target on shares of Paramount Global in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Paramount Global from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.40.

Paramount Global Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ PARA opened at $10.61 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.04. The stock has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.74. Paramount Global has a 12-month low of $9.54 and a 12-month high of $17.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $6.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.94 billion. Paramount Global had a negative net margin of 18.89% and a positive return on equity of 5.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Paramount Global will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Paramount Global Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Paramount Global’s dividend payout ratio is currently -2.43%.

Paramount Global Company Profile

Paramount Global operates as a media, streaming, and entertainment company worldwide. It operates through TV Media, Direct-to-Consumer, and Filmed Entertainment segments. The TV Media segment operates CBS Television Network, a domestic broadcast television network; CBS Stations, a television station; and international free-to-air networks comprising Network 10, Channel 5, Telefe, and Chilevisión; domestic premium and basic cable networks, such as Paramount+ with Showtime, MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, The Smithsonian Channel, Nickelodeon, BET Media Group, and CBS Sports Network; and international extensions of these brands.