Alpine Associates Management Inc. Sells 17,300 Shares of Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA)

Alpine Associates Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 471,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,300 shares during the quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. owned 0.07% of Paramount Global worth $4,927,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paramount Global by 16.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,394,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,533,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030,592 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its position in shares of Paramount Global by 50.7% during the third quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 328,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,484,000 after purchasing an additional 110,357 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paramount Global by 824.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 195,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,029,000 after purchasing an additional 174,514 shares in the last quarter. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paramount Global by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,902,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,898,000 after purchasing an additional 265,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paramount Global by 22.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 683,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,258,000 after purchasing an additional 124,740 shares in the last quarter. 73.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PARA shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Paramount Global from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Paramount Global in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Paramount Global in a report on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Paramount Global from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Paramount Global in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paramount Global presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.10.

Paramount Global Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of PARA stock opened at $12.14 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $10.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.78. Paramount Global has a 1 year low of $9.54 and a 1 year high of $14.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.48, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.60. 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 Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.29). Paramount Global had a negative net margin of 18.89% and a positive return on equity of 5.81%. The firm had revenue of $7.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.07 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Paramount Global will post 1.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paramount Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Paramount Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -2.15%.

About Paramount Global

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.