Alpine Associates Management Inc. Acquires New Position in Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA)

Alpine Associates Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 488,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,186,000. Alpine Associates Management Inc. owned about 0.07% of Paramount Global at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PARA. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in shares of Paramount Global by 46.1% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 388,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,571,000 after buying an additional 122,613 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Paramount Global by 6.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,090,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $730,805,000 after buying an additional 3,803,928 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Paramount Global by 975.4% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 87,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,031,000 after buying an additional 79,430 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Paramount Global by 40.9% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 5,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 1,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of Paramount Global by 33.9% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 406,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,790,000 after buying an additional 103,103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Paramount Global from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Paramount Global in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Macquarie reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective on shares of Paramount Global in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Paramount Global from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Paramount Global in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.40.

Paramount Global Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PARA opened at $10.33 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $10.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.03. Paramount Global has a 1-year low of $9.54 and a 1-year high of $17.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.74. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.25. Paramount Global had a negative net margin of 18.89% and a positive return on equity of 5.81%. The firm had revenue of $6.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.30 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Paramount Global will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paramount Global Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. 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.