Shares of Nielsen Holdings PLC (NYSE:NLSN) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $25.80.
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NLSN shares. SunTrust Banks cut their target price on shares of Nielsen to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Nielsen from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup set a $28.00 target price on shares of Nielsen and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, ValuEngine upgraded shares of Nielsen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd.
Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NLSN. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Nielsen by 4.9% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 137,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,106,000 after acquiring an additional 6,387 shares during the period. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Nielsen in the second quarter valued at approximately $298,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Nielsen in the second quarter valued at approximately $163,000. Los Angeles Capital Management & Equity Research Inc. bought a new position in shares of Nielsen in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,678,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Nielsen by 8.6% during the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 46,514 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,051,000 after purchasing an additional 3,675 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.33% of the company’s stock.
NYSE:NLSN traded down $0.05 on Monday, reaching $19.95. 3,511,866 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,935,149. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $6.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.91. Nielsen has a 52 week low of $17.94 and a 52 week high of $27.57. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.57.
Nielsen (NYSE:NLSN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The business services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. Nielsen had a negative net margin of 19.46% and a positive return on equity of 21.91%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nielsen will post 1.69 EPS for the current year.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Nielsen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.87%.
About Nielsen
Nielsen Holdings plc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a measurement and data analytics company. It operates in two segments, Buy and Watch. The Buy segment provides retail transactional measurement data, consumer behavior information, and analytics primarily to businesses in the consumer packaged goods industry.
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