Macquarie Reiterates "Neutral" Rating for Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG)

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "neutral" rating reaffirmed by analysts at Macquarie in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $30.00 target price on the stock. Macquarie's price objective indicates a potential downside of 5.81% from the stock's previous close.

WMG has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday. Bank of America reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Warner Music Group from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Warner Music Group from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $36.00.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 2.1 %

Warner Music Group stock traded up $0.67 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $31.85. The stock had a trading volume of 2,664,520 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,820,420. Warner Music Group has a 52-week low of $27.06 and a 52-week high of $38.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $31.73 and a 200 day moving average of $30.71. The firm has a market cap of $16.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26.

Insider Activity

In other Warner Music Group news, CEO Max Lousada sold 64,047 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.25, for a total value of $1,809,327.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,909,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,191,171.50. The trade was a 2.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 628,205 shares of company stock worth $17,628,757. 73.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 239.3% during the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 45,800 shares of the company's stock worth $1,434,000 after purchasing an additional 32,300 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Warner Music Group by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,628,263 shares of the company's stock worth $82,284,000 after purchasing an additional 49,166 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group in the third quarter valued at about $2,352,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,373,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $304,000. 96.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group Corp. operates as a music entertainment company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through Recorded Music and Music Publishing segments. The Recorded Music segment is involved in the discovery and development of recording artists, as well as related marketing, promotion, distribution, sale, and licensing of music created by such recording artists; markets its music catalog through compilations and reissuances of previously released music and video titles, as well as previously unreleased materials; and conducts its operation primarily through a collection of record labels, such as Warner Records and Atlantic Records, as well as Asylum, Big Beat, Canvasback, East West, Erato, FFRR, Fueled by Ramen, Nonesuch, Parlophone, Reprise, Roadrunner, Sire, Spinnin' Records, Warner Classics, and Warner Music Nashville.

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