Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB) – Investment analysts at Imperial Capital dropped their Q3 2019 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Viacom in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, June 13th, Zacks Investment Research reports. Imperial Capital analyst D. Miller now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $1.04 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $1.06. Imperial Capital also issued estimates for Viacom’s Q4 2019 earnings at $0.89 EPS and FY2019 earnings at $3.98 EPS.
Viacom (NASDAQ:VIAB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 10th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.06 billion. Viacom had a net margin of 12.63% and a return on equity of 22.60%. Viacom’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share.
VIAB has been the subject of several other research reports. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Viacom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $33.00 to $35.00 in a report on Friday, March 29th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Viacom from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Viacom from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $31.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Viacom from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Viacom from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.43.
NASDAQ VIAB traded up $0.11 during trading on Monday, reaching $30.61. 2,629,100 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,391,631. The company has a market capitalization of $12.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Viacom has a fifty-two week low of $23.31 and a fifty-two week high of $34.44.
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Viacom’s payout ratio is presently 19.42%.
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VIAB. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Viacom by 40.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 10,680,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $294,131,000 after acquiring an additional 3,076,039 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Viacom during the fourth quarter worth about $75,545,000. MERIAN GLOBAL INVESTORS UK Ltd increased its position in Viacom by 836.3% during the first quarter. MERIAN GLOBAL INVESTORS UK Ltd now owns 2,850,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,007,000 after acquiring an additional 2,545,862 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its position in Viacom by 41.3% during the first quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 3,579,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,485,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,796 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi Pioneer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Viacom by 83.0% during the fourth quarter. Amundi Pioneer Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,279,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,576,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,032 shares during the period. 79.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Viacom Company Profile
Viacom Inc operates media brands that create entertainment content worldwide. It operates through two segments, Media Networks and Filmed Entertainment. The Media Networks segment offers entertainment content, services, and related branded products for consumers through approximately 314 locally programmed and operated television channels, including Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, Nick Jr., VH1, TV Land, CMT, Logo, Channel 5, Milkshake!, Telefe, Colors, Paramount Channel, TeenNick, Nicktoons, Nick Music, MTV2, MTV Classic, MTV Live, BET Her, BET Gospel, and BET Hip Hop, as well as through online, mobile, and apps.