Getty Images Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:GETY) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Getty Images Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:GETY) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,010,000 shares, an increase of 23.0% from the March 15th total of 6,510,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,780,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 7.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark cut their price objective on Getty Images from $6.00 to $4.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $3.75 price objective on shares of Getty Images in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $2.45 target price on shares of Getty Images in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $7.70 price target on shares of Getty Images in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.60.

Getty Images Trading Up 4.5 %

NYSE GETY traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $1.74. 607,668 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,157,755. The stock has a market cap of $715.81 million, a P/E ratio of 14.46 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Getty Images has a one year low of $1.25 and a one year high of $4.49. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.67.

Getty Images (NYSE:GETY) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 17th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.04 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $247.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.50 million. Getty Images had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 6.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Getty Images will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Cho Mikael sold 18,590 shares of Getty Images stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.12, for a total value of $39,410.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 123,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,587.44. This trade represents a 13.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Craig Warren Peters sold 124,624 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.12, for a total value of $264,202.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,262,948 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,677,449.76. This represents a 8.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 226,668 shares of company stock worth $480,536 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Getty Images

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GETY. Koch Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Getty Images during the fourth quarter valued at about $183,865,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Getty Images by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,225,249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,087,000 after acquiring an additional 698,829 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Getty Images by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,675,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,620,000 after acquiring an additional 11,680 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank acquired a new position in shares of Getty Images during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,553,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Getty Images by 46.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,474,167 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,617,000 after purchasing an additional 466,521 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.75% of the company’s stock.

Getty Images Company Profile

Getty Images Holdings, Inc offers creative and editorial visual content solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Its products include Getty Images that offers creative and editorial content including stills, music and video which focuses on corporate, agency, and media customers; iStock.com, an e-commerce offering where customers have access to creative stills and video; Unsplash.com, a platform offering free stock photo downloads and paid subscriptions targeted to the high-growth prosumer and semi-professional creator segments; and Unsplash+ that provides access to unique model released content with expanded legal protections.