Brokerages Set Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target at $36.17

Shares of Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Hold" from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $36.17.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Macquarie dropped their price target on Warner Music Group from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Tigress Financial cut their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Warner Music Group news, CEO Max Lousada sold 135,324 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.17, for a total value of $3,812,077.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,725,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,790,405.88. This represents a 4.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold 628,205 shares of company stock valued at $17,628,757 over the last quarter. 73.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WMG. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Warner Music Group during the first quarter worth about $82,000. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in Warner Music Group by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 154,747 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,110,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Warner Music Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,861,877 shares of the company's stock worth $391,679,000 after buying an additional 192,215 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Warner Music Group by 289.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 92,930 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,066,000 after purchasing an additional 69,089 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Warner Music Group by 6.3% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 13,141 shares of the company's stock worth $434,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company's stock.

Warner Music Group Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WMG traded down $0.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $32.85. 217,449 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,790,703. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Warner Music Group has a 1 year low of $27.06 and a 1 year high of $38.05. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $31.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.37.

Warner Music Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.23%.

Warner Music Group Company Profile

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.