Brokerages Set Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target at $35.31

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Hold" from the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.31.

Several research firms have recently commented on WMG. Bank of America restated an "underperform" rating and set a $30.00 price target (down from $33.00) on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Macquarie reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Warner Music Group in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total value of $1,083,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 242,360 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,503,465.60. The trade was a 12.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 72.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMG. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company's stock worth $257,207,000 after buying an additional 7,923,926 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. grew its position in shares of Warner Music Group by 91.5% during the third quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 5,264,498 shares of the company's stock worth $164,779,000 after acquiring an additional 2,514,715 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 37.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,754,504 shares of the company's stock valued at $274,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,370,973 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $15,766,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Warner Music Group by 2,198.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 507,533 shares of the company's stock worth $15,886,000 after purchasing an additional 485,447 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.88% of the company's stock.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $31.80. 2,250,260 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,764,263. The stock has a market cap of $16.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.35. Warner Music Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.06 and a fifty-two week high of $38.05. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $31.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.95, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 69.29% and a net margin of 6.77%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 19th. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.75%.

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.