Zacks reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB) in a research report released on Thursday. The firm currently has a $61.00 target price on the stock.
Zacks’ analyst wrote, “Viacom posted modest first quarter of fiscal 2013 results with EPS coming in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate but revenues missing our expectation. Both advertising and film business witnessed a huge drop in revenues, mainly attributable to weak viewership ratings, mainly for Nickelodeon and MTV channels and lack of hit movie releases. Moreover, the stock price is hovering around its 52-week high. However, increased investment to expand its networks and content along with new deals with video streaming companies will bolster Viacom’s top-line growth going forward. Moreover, Viacom is generating strong free cash flow, enabling the company to maximize its shareholders’ wealth through dividend payments and share repurchases. Hence, we reaffirm our Neutral recommendation on Viacom.”
A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on VIAB. Analysts at Wedbush downgraded shares of Viacom from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note to investors on Thursday, February 7th. They now have a $63.00 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at Argus downgraded shares of Viacom from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note to investors on Wednesday, February 6th. Finally, analysts at Barclays Capital raised their price target on shares of Viacom from $55.00 to $68.00 in a research note to investors on Friday, February 1st. They now have an overweight rating on the stock.
Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, one has issued an overweight rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, and one has issued an underweight rating to the company. The stock has a consensus rating of overweight and an average price target of $64.54.
Shares of Viacom opened at 59.37 on Thursday. Viacom has a 52 week low of $35.13 and a 52 week high of $49.85. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $46.9. The company has a market cap of $29.386 billion and a P/E ratio of 14.00.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which is scheduled for Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th.
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