Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV) Sets New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:LYV - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Macquarie raised their price target on the stock from $130.00 to $146.00. Macquarie currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Live Nation Entertainment traded as high as $132.17 and last traded at $131.75, with a volume of 398944 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $129.00.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on LYV. Benchmark raised their price objective on Live Nation Entertainment from $132.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com lowered Live Nation Entertainment from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Live Nation Entertainment from $118.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Live Nation Entertainment from $120.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Live Nation Entertainment from $120.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Live Nation Entertainment has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $138.57.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jeffrey T. Hinson sold 5,640 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.18, for a total transaction of $536,815.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 53,949 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,134,865.82. The trade was a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ping Fu sold 1,701 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.56, for a total value of $164,248.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,128 shares in the company, valued at $1,460,759.68. This trade represents a 10.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 170,500 shares of company stock worth $16,613,966 over the last 90 days. 2.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Live Nation Entertainment

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Live Nation Entertainment during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $748,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in Live Nation Entertainment by 22.6% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 102,709 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,873,000 after purchasing an additional 18,931 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its stake in Live Nation Entertainment by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 12,940,613 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,213,053,000 after purchasing an additional 1,415,173 shares during the period. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Live Nation Entertainment during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,985,000. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Live Nation Entertainment by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 31,904 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,493,000 after purchasing an additional 4,761 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.52% of the company's stock.

Live Nation Entertainment Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.10. The stock has a market cap of $30.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.06, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.33.

Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. Live Nation Entertainment had a return on equity of 77.62% and a net margin of 2.11%. The firm had revenue of $7.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

About Live Nation Entertainment

Live Nation Entertainment, Inc operates as a live entertainment company worldwide. It operates through Concerts, Ticketing, and Sponsorship & Advertising segments. The Concerts segment promotes live music events in its owned or operated venues, and in rented third-party venues. This segment operates and manages music venues; produces music festivals; creates and streams associated content; and offers management and other services to artists.