What happened to the HT&E (ASX:HT1) share price on Tuesday?

There was another liquidity boost to HT&E's balance sheet today

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The HT&E Ltd (ASX: HT1) share price finished flat at $1.85 today — the same price as it closed on Monday.

However, it spent much of Tuesday in the red until an update from the media and entertainment company this afternoon saw a late rally.

Here are the details.

What was announced?

HT&E advised it disposed of its entire equity stake and shareholding in out-of-home advertising company oOh!Media Limited (ASX: OML) today.

The company disposed of the shares for $1.78 each, thereby obtaining gross proceeds of $49 million.

HT&E had originally acquired its 4.2% stake in oOh!Media in April 2020, as an "equity investment in a sector and assets it is very familiar with".

The disposal of the shares realised a gain of $31 million on its original investment of approximately $15 million to $18 million at the time. However, it has done little to fire up the HT&E share price.

The $49 million is a welcome accretion to HT&E's balance sheet after it recently resolved an ongoing tax dispute with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Here the ATO was chasing answers and payment on a total of $195 million in reference to one of HT&E's New Zealand branches. The company reached the resolution on a sum of $71 million – far lower than most expected – being in the best interests of shareholders.

The better-than-expected result saw the HT&E share price soar by more than 30% on the day. It also had leading brokers smiling, as the majority of analysts had baked in a far greater penalty toward the company.

Leading broker Jefferies reckoned the company would foot a $90 million bill from the dispute and was subsequently surprised at the outcome.

It consequently raised its price target on the HT&E share price by around 9% to $2.50 per share, implying an upside potential of 38% at the time of writing.

Today, the HT&E share price was struggling around $1.80 at the time of announcement — down around 2.7% on the day — before bouncing back to its closing price of $1.85.

HT&E share price snapshot

The HT&E share price is currently exactly where it started the year, at $1.85. However, shares in the media company have rallied 17% in the last month and around 20% this past week.

In the last 12 months, HT&E shares have climbed more than 27%, a smidge ahead of the S&P/AX 200 index (ASX: XJO)'s return of 23% in that time.

The author Zach Bristow has no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended oOh!Media Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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