In a recent transaction, Brian J. Wendling, the Chief Accounting Officer and Principal Financial (NASDAQ:PFG) Officer of Qurate Retail, Inc. (NASDAQ:QRTEA), sold a portion of his holdings in the company. According to InvestingPro data, the company's stock has experienced significant volatility, trading near its 52-week low of $0.35, with the current share price at $0.37. On December 5, Wendling disposed of 5,000 shares of the company's 8% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock. The shares were sold at a weighted average price of $38.4115, resulting in a total transaction value of $192,057.
Following this sale, Wendling now holds 4,500 shares of the preferred stock directly. The transaction was executed in multiple trades, with prices ranging from $38.38 to $38.57 per share.
In other recent news, Qurate Retail Group (NASDAQ:QRTEA)'s financial performance has prompted Citi to adjust its price target for the company, reducing it to $0.50 from the previous target of $0.64, while maintaining a Neutral rating on the stock. This follows Qurate's recent earnings report, where both revenue and Adjusted OIBDA did not meet the estimates set by Citi. Qurate's revenue declined by 9.4% in the last twelve months to $10.24 billion, with a negative EPS of $0.70.
In addition, Qurate Retail experienced a challenging third quarter in 2024, with revenue falling short of expectations and a decrease in customer count. Efforts to adapt to changing consumer habits and focus on cost efficiencies have led to a nearly $400 million increase in free cash flow from December 2022 to September 2024. Yet, the company faced a 4% decline in total TV minutes viewed and significant events that impacted consumer behavior, leading to approximately 1-2 percentage points reduction in revenue.
In light of these developments, Citi's analysts have estimated approximately an 80% chance that Qurate will continue operating as a going concern, with the equity valued at $0.60, and a 20% chance of the company facing bankruptcy, in which case the equity would be worthless. Despite these challenges, Qurate Retail remains optimistic about leveraging lessons from Project Athens for profitability and expects its focus on cash flow and cost efficiencies to position it well for future developments.
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