Stock Update: Viacom Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) – Whistleblower sues Viacom, alleges Ninja Turtles tax fraud plan

[Reuters] – Viacom Inc was sued by a former vice president who said the media company wrongfully fired her in retaliation for opposing its alleged plan to illegally avoid paying U.S. taxes on the international licensing rights for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In a complaint filed on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, Nataki Williams said she was fired in April 2014 while on maternity leave, after Viacom ignored her objections to its plan the prior year to transfer Ninja Turtles rights to a Netherlands-based entity solely to avoid the U.S. tax burden. Williams said the licensing work was handled in New York, but Viacom arranged for minor work to be done in the Netherlands to make it appear as though the contracts were handled there. Read more on this. Viacom, Inc. (VIAB) , valued at $16.09B, opened this morning at $40.77. Today, shares have traded between $40.32 and $41.27 per share and has traded between $36.32 and $74.17 over the past year. VIAB shares are currently priced at 7.00x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively inexpensive compared to the industry’s 15.31x earnings multiple. The company pays shareholders $1.60 per share annually in dividends, yielding 3.89%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 31 sell-side analysts are looking at $1.19 per share, which would be $0.10 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.25 sequential decrease. Furthermore, our analysis shows the full-year EPS estimate to be $5.83, which would be a $0.39 better when compared to the last year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $3.27 Billion. If reported, that would be a 2.10% decrease over the year-ago quarter. Recently, Deutsche Bank downgraded VIAB from Buy to Hold (Nov 23, 2015). Previously, Goldman downgraded VIAB from Buy to Neutral. The average price target for VIAB shares is $58.95, which is 44.59% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NASDAQ:VIAB) Similar Articles: Market Update: Viacom Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) – CBS, Viacom exec chair Redstone’s compensation cut in 2015-CNBC Company Update: Viacom Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) – Viacom and TiVo Research Announce Strategic Partnership Company Update: Viacom Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) – AT&T and Viacom agree to new satellite, Internet TV distribution deal