IMAX (NYSE:IMAX) Given “Buy” Rating at Benchmark

IMAX (NYSE:IMAX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by Benchmark in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $30.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 12.89% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on IMAX. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on IMAX from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of IMAX in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barrington Research raised their price objective on IMAX from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on IMAX from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered IMAX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, IMAX presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.00.

IMAX Stock Performance

IMAX traded down $0.65 during trading on Thursday, reaching $26.58. The company had a trading volume of 106,918 shares, compared to its average volume of 672,959. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.93. The company has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.50, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.22. IMAX has a 12-month low of $14.94 and a 12-month high of $27.38.

IMAX (NYSE:IMAX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $92.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $104.08 million. IMAX had a return on equity of 7.53% and a net margin of 6.74%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that IMAX will post 0.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Natasha Fernandes sold 2,957 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.52, for a total transaction of $75,462.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,814.16. The trade was a 16.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert D. Lister sold 55,910 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.50, for a total value of $1,425,705.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 138,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,541,669.50. This represents a 28.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 65,176 shares of company stock worth $1,662,110. 24.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of IMAX

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC grew its position in IMAX by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,508,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,420,000 after acquiring an additional 558,940 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of IMAX by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,823,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,671,000 after acquiring an additional 491,172 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP lifted its stake in shares of IMAX by 3.1% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,822,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,382,000 after acquiring an additional 54,850 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in IMAX by 9.8% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,420,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,136,000 after purchasing an additional 127,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in IMAX by 45.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 624,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,987,000 after purchasing an additional 194,917 shares during the last quarter. 93.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About IMAX

IMAX Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a technology platform for entertainment and events worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Content Solutions and Technology Products and Services. The company offers IMAX DMR, a proprietary technology that digitally remasters films and other content into IMAX formats for distribution to the IMAX network; IMAX Enhanced that provides end-to-end technology across streaming content and entertainment devices at home; and SSIMWAVE, an AI-driven video quality solutions for media and entertainment companies.