Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $35.81.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Warner Music Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Macquarie reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Warner Music Group in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Warner Music Group from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on 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, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Warner Music Group from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th.

Warner Music Group Stock Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ WMG traded down $0.50 on Friday, hitting $34.30. 743,997 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,904,026. Warner Music Group has a 12 month low of $27.06 and a 12 month high of $36.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. The company has a market cap of $17.85 billion, a PE ratio of 35.04, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.90 and a 200-day moving average of $31.30.

Remove Ads

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

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. Warner Music Group's payout ratio is 73.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Valentin Blavatnik sold 28,230 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 68,264 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,419,958.80. This represents a 29.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lincoln E. Benet sold 35,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.96, for a total transaction of $1,083,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 242,360 shares in the company, valued at $7,503,465.60. The trade was a 12.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 64,333 shares of company stock valued at $2,124,602. Company insiders own 72.21% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,371,100 shares of the company's stock valued at $414,504,000 after purchasing an additional 82,149 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Warner Music Group by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,199,012 shares of the company's stock valued at $347,169,000 after purchasing an additional 2,444,508 shares in the last quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP lifted its stake 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 valued at $321,479,000 after buying an additional 1,500,000 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 2,699.4% during the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,217,467 shares of the company's stock worth $257,207,000 after purchasing an additional 7,923,926 shares during the period. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Warner Music Group by 43.5% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 7,920,342 shares of the company's stock valued at $245,531,000 after buying an additional 2,400,500 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.88% of the company's stock.

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.