Warner Music Group's (WMG) "Equal Weight" Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "equal weight" rating reaffirmed by Morgan Stanley in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $32.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $37.00. Morgan Stanley's target price would suggest a potential upside of 11.71% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on WMG. UBS Group cut their price target on Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Macquarie reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, FBN Securities initiated coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, March 28th. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $35.47.

Warner Music Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WMG traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $28.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 932,654 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,955,023. The firm has a market cap of $14.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.32. Warner Music Group has a 1-year low of $27.06 and a 1-year high of $36.64. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $31.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.11. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 79.01%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Timothy Matusch sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.43, for a total transaction of $31,430.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,754,808.07. The trade was a 1.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.45, for a total transaction of $1,000,753.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,264 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. The trade was a 29.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,333 shares of company stock worth $1,072,432 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 72.21% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Darsana Capital Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 7,206.3% during the 4th quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 6,000,000 shares of the company's stock worth $186,000,000 after purchasing an additional 5,917,879 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Warner Music Group by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,199,012 shares of the company's stock valued at $347,169,000 after acquiring an additional 2,444,508 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in Warner Music Group by 43.5% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 7,920,342 shares of the company's stock valued at $245,531,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400,500 shares during the last quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP grew its position in Warner Music Group by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 10,370,280 shares of the company's stock worth $321,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 148.2% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 344,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,895 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company's stock.

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.