National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) shares hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $7.39 and last traded at $7.34, with a volume of 310604 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $7.12.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NCMI. Barrington Research raised their price objective on shares of National CineMedia from $7.50 to $8.25 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of National CineMedia in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. B. Riley raised their price objective on shares of National CineMedia from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $7.50 price objective (up from $6.00) on shares of National CineMedia in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $8.06.

National CineMedia Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $6.88 and its 200-day moving average is $5.78. The stock has a market cap of $637.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 2.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 2.45.

National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The business services provider reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $62.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.20 million. National CineMedia had a net margin of 78.04% and a return on equity of 3.50%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. Analysts anticipate that National CineMedia, Inc. will post -0.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NCMI. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of National CineMedia by 38.9% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,897 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 6,690 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of National CineMedia by 37.6% in the 1st quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,966,355 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,127,000 after buying an additional 537,822 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of National CineMedia by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,584,556 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,460,000 after buying an additional 18,347 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of National CineMedia in the 1st quarter worth $298,000. Finally, Gendell Jeffrey L purchased a new position in shares of National CineMedia in the 1st quarter worth $2,352,000. 69.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

National CineMedia Company Profile

National CineMedia, Inc, through its subsidiary, National CineMedia, LLC, operates cinema advertising network in North America. It engages in the sale of advertising to national, regional, and local businesses in Noovie, a cinema advertising and entertainment show seen on movie screens; and sells advertising on its Lobby Entertainment Network, a series of strategically-placed screens located in movie theater lobbies, as well as other forms of advertising and promotions in theatre lobbies.