IHRT surged 35% Friday, capping a 98% month. Short interest fell 25% in that span while options sentiment flipped sharply bullish.
IHRT closed at $5.42 on April 24, up 35.2% on the day. The stock gained 32.2% for the week and has doubled over the past month. Trading volume spiked as the broadcasting name broke out from a sustained low base.
Short interest stood at 4.79 million shares on April 23, or 3.7% of free float. That marks a 25.5% decline over 30 days. The month-long retreat began March 23, when short interest topped 6.35 million shares—the highest reading in the trailing window. By early April, shorts had trimmed positions below 4.5 million shares, where they have stabilised. Cost to borrow closed at 0.65%, down from a March 25 peak of 1.12% but up 92% week-over-week following Friday's volatility. Utilisation sits at 9.0%, well below the 52-week high of 19.4%. Days to cover runs at 9.2 per the latest fortnightly print.
Put–call ratio dropped to 1.25 on April 24, far below the 20-day mean of 2.01 and registering a z-score of –1.79. The reading marks a sharp reversal from early April, when PCR hovered above 2.20. Between April 7 and April 13, PCR averaged 2.28, indicating heavy put skew. The shift toward calls over the past week suggests a sentiment reset. The 52-week range spans 0.84 to 32.52, with current levels at the bullish end of recent behaviour.
The mean price target is $3.13, implying downside from Friday's close. Goldman Sachs downgraded to Sell in January and cut the target to $3.50 from $4.00. B of A Securities raised its Neutral-rated target to $5.00 from $3.00 in November 2025, while Goldman lifted its Neutral target to $4.00 from $1.25 the same month. Guggenheim maintains a Buy rating with a $4.50 target, trimmed from $5.00 in March 2025. Analyst data is 53 days old.
Price-to-book closed at –0.13, indicating a negative book value. The ratio shifted 0.78 basis points on the day and moved 0.53 points over seven days. EV/EBITDA stood at 7.64 as of mid-May 2025, up 0.10 points on a one-day basis and 0.28 points over 30 days. Negative earnings yield of –0.28 reflects continued losses. Factor percentile ranks place the stock at the 48th percentile for analyst recommendation differential, the 33rd for dividend score, and the 31st for short score.
Pacific Investment Management added 91,178 shares to a 25.2 million position (16.1% of shares) as of year-end 2025. Global Media & Entertainment Investments held steady at 18.1 million shares (11.6%). BlackRock lifted its stake by 274,690 shares to 8.3 million (5.3%) in Q1 2026. Vanguard added 336,624 shares to 7.4 million (4.7%) in the same quarter. Douglas Lane trimmed 45,845 shares, leaving 3.8 million (2.4%). Robert Pittman, founder and chairman, increased his holding by 186,694 shares to 3.5 million (2.2%) through March 9.
Insiders netted 1.48 million shares over 90 days, valued at $5.0 million. Pittman bought 16,349 shares at $2.97 on March 9 and 32,468 shares at $3.25 on March 5. President Richard Bressler sold 110,008 shares at $3.17 on February 25 for $349,000, and CFO Michael McGuinness sold 29,167 shares the same day for $92,000. Executives received stock awards totalling 256,667 shares each on February 25. The 90-day net reflects Pittman's accumulation offsetting executive sales tied to compensation vesting.
The company's next earnings call is scheduled for May 11. March earnings events saw no meaningful one-day or five-day price reactions recorded in the snapshot. Historical earnings data is sparse, with the most recent quarterly print logged March 2.
May 11 earnings will test whether the recent rally holds. Short interest has already declined materially since late March. A further squeeze would require fresh catalysts or sustained retail interest. Cost to borrow volatility suggests lenders are recalibrating availability as the stock re-rates.
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